This Is Castle We're Talking About
by Beledi1113
Summary: Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time? This involves the whole Castle crew but I can only select 4 characters.
1. Chapter 1

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle, just writing for fun.

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Background – This is a sequel that takes place several months after "The Call" in which Beckett said no to Castle's proposal (otherwise, I wouldn't have had a story) and left for Washington DC without him. He then dropped Alexis off at the airport for her trip to Costa Rica and took off to parts unknown. Martha was doing summer stock in Upstate New York. Castle was kidnapped and they called the loft but no one was there to take the call. When Alexis came home 5 weeks later, she found out that her father was kidnapped. A week later, Kate found out and came back to the 12th to find Castle. They ended up engaged (of course). But at the end, we find out that Castle's kidnapping was not a random occurrence.

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**Last chapter of The Call:**

It was well after midnight when the call came on the burner phone that had been purchased specifically for this purpose. The limo sat in a vacant lot on the edge of the Potomac River.

"It's done," was the terse greeting. "Beckett is back with the NYPD and Castle is back in New York."

"Good. McAlister?"

"Accident with weights in the training yard – crushed his windpipe before anyone could help him. We've recovered the money. What about the boy?"

The woman thought for a moment. "He may be useful in the future, so no, nothing right now." There was a slight pause. "And do whatever it takes to keep Beckett and Castle in New York – I won't have them interfering with my plans."

She ended the call and tossed the phone into the river. It was unfortunate that Castle had seen them when he was in France, when they were someplace they weren't supposed to be.

And it was a shame that Castle didn't die while he was kidnapped. It would be much easier if they could take him out directly but that would alert certain parties to their presence and the outcome would not be good. They just had to keep him away from places where he might meet them and make a connection.

But for right now, this was good enough.

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And now for Chapter 1 of _**This Is Castle We're Talking About**_

**Chapter 1**

Sgt. Tom Demming smiled as he thumbed through the photographs his partner had just handed him, a smile that wasn't pleasant to behold, but smug and self-satisfying.

"Finally caught you, you bastard," he breathed silently.

How long had it been, he thought? More than 3 years since Kate dumped him for the craziness that was Castle? He thought he had moved on and while he could justify this as protecting a fellow police officer, he knew a tiny part of his heart still belonged to her and he definitely had an ulterior motive.

Castle was the type of man that he didn't particularly like – a flash in the pan that made guys like him seem too bland until a broken heart forced the victim back to reality, where only then he might get a second look while picking up the pieces.

Demming pressed a button on his phone. "Brenda, get me Judge Wilson. I need a search warrant for 595 Broome St. concerning the antiquity smuggling case. Yes, Richard Castle. Call me if you get any flak and I don't care if he's a friend of the mayors. He's a prime suspect and I've got the proof."

This was one that he would definitely do all the way by the books – he didn't want the writer slipping through his hands on a technicality. It was Castle they were talking about after all, and the man apparently was as slippery as an eel when it came to getting off scot-free in matters of the law as his rap sheet attested to. Yes, Castle had friends in high places, but they weren't going to be of any help this time.

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24 hours later, Demming and his squad were standing outside of Castle's door, pounding on it.

"Richard Castle, this is the NYPD!" shouted Demming. "Open up – we've got a search warrant!" He waited a few more minutes before pounding again. "This is the NYPD! Open up!" He finally motioned to the manager to unlock the door since there was no response from inside the loft.

Demming knew Castle was at home – as soon as he called in the search warrant, he had put surveillance on the writer yesterday afternoon siting him as a flight risk. The officers watching the place reported that he had come home around 7 last night and had not left since then. The only visitor he had was the delivery for Chinese food around 11 am.

Hyper aware, the team walked carefully into the loft because they knew that Castle had a gun at his residence and they didn't want to end up at wrong end of it.

"Richard Castle!" Demming called again. "This is the NYPD! We've got a search warrant."

He frowned at the stillness in the loft, noting the cartons of Chinese food on the table, when he heard a dripping noise coming from a room off to the side.

Demming walked to the door, carefully peered in, and then let out a string of explicatives that caught his team's attention.

"Call for an ambulance," he said to a policeman before barging into the room.

Castle lay limply on the floor of the study, his face pale, lips blue. A container of Chinese food was spilled across the desk, the sauce slowly dripping onto his laptop which lay topsy-turvy on the floor.

Demming felt for a pulse and then swore again, noting the Chinese food hanging out of the corner of Castle's mouth. Of all the rotten luck and bad timing…

"Cancel the ambulance and call the ME. We've got a body," he said as he stood up.

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Esposito made himself a cup of espresso as he surveyed the bull pen and nodded in satisfaction. Yes, he thought, things were going remarkably well since Gates had left him in charge yesterday morning when she had to leave town for a family emergency.

Gate's mother had fallen and broken her hip, and the captain was going to be there for the surgery and several days after to get Mrs. Gates settled into rehab. Beckett was at a police training in Washington DC for the week and Castle had made himself scarce, saying that if he didn't get something to Gina soon, she was likely to start pulling off parts and he was rather attached to his parts.

The 12th had caught a simple case yesterday, though nothing was simple about murder, which turned out to be a crime of passion. The wife had come home to find her dirt-bag husband in bed with his mistress and now they had 2 dead bodies on their hands.

Esposito had finished up the paperwork shortly after lunch and paused for a break, waiting for the next case to fall.

Yeah, with Beckett moving up to sergeant, being lead detective was definitely in his sights.

The elevator doors chimed and Ryan walked in, beaming and smiling from ear to ear.

"So how's the little peanut?" Espo asked, using his pet name for Kevin's and Jenny's baby.

"Growing just fine," said the Irish detective, pulling a picture out of the pocket of his coat and proudly presenting it to Espo. "See – there's his head and his legs…"

Espo squinted at the blurry picture as he looked at it from different angles. "If you say so, man." He stopped and looked at Ryan. "He? Can you even tell yet?"

Ryan shook his head. "Nah, but I've got a feeling about this. We Irishmen are hearty stock," he joked.

Espo clapped Ryan on the shoulder as he watched a uniformed officer walk towards them with a sheet of paper in her hands, a worriedly look on her face.

"Congratulations again, man. I couldn't be happier for you and Jenny," Espo said.

"Excuse me, Detective, but we've got a body drop," the officer said.

"Yeah, no rest for the weary," said Espo. "What's the address?"

He stared as the woman read off the address. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, sir," she said. "I double-checked it personally. They've called for the ME – Perlmutter is on his way."

Espo didn't even need to say "Let's go." to Ryan as they both ran for the elevator.

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Perlmutter had beaten them to the scene by 30 minutes and the body was being wheeled out the back door into the waiting morgue mobile when they arrived.

"Detectives," he said quietly. "I'm sorry for your loss. Do you want to…" he asked as both Espo and Ryan nodded.

Perlmutter unzipped the top of the bag.

Espo swore when he saw Castle. "What happened?"

"Looks like he choked on his lunch. I'll have something more definite when I get him back to the morgue. It couldn't have happened more than an hour ago though."

"Who?" started Ryan. "Did Alexis-?"

"No," Perlmutter said quickly. "It was Demming."

"Demming?" said Espo, frowning. "Tom Demming as in major crimes? What's he doing here?"

"You might want to ask him. He's got a team going through the loft," Perlmutter said as he zipped the bag back up. "If you'll excuse me, gentlemen. I should have a report on your desk in a couple of hours."

Espo and Ryan nodded at him and then hurried into the building and up to the loft.

CSU was carefully combing the scene when they arrived, Demming talking to several members of his team, pointing different things out.

Espo immediately walked up to him. "What the hell is this all about?" he asked defensively.

"Nice to see you too," Demming replied. "Are you here as a friend of the family or from the 12th? If you're a friend, we'll have to ask you to leave – this is an active crime scene. If you're from the 12th, we have a legal search warrant."

Espo stood straighter. "We're friends _**and**_ we're from the 12th. What's the search warrant for?"

"Antiquities," Demming replied. "Castle was recently seen several times with a person of interest in regards to smuggling and we have reason to believe that he's involved in the operation."

"Castle?" said Ryan. "Seriously? I know he does hands-on research, but even he's not that stupid."

"Stupid, no," said Demming, "but rich, yes, and most of the time, they think the rules don't apply to them. So if he's bought something off market, we'll find it. But I guess it won't matter to him—" Demming didn't get a chance to finish what he was going to say before Espo hit him in the face with a right hook.

Ryan and Demming's team immediately stepped between the two to ward off any other hostilities.

Demming straightened up and rubbed his jaw. "I'll give you that one, detective, but like I said, it doesn't matter to him anymore." He turned to the lead CSU. "I'll be expecting your report," he said, "and make sure the 12th gets a copy too." He looked back at Espo and Ryan. "Give Detective Beckett my regards when you talk to her."

Demming pulled out his phone as he walked out of the loft, leaving Espo and Ryan standing there as the CSU team continued to collect evidence.

Kate – shit – what were they going to tell her?

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	2. Chapter 2

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

FYI – There are more characters is this story than I can select. And warning about how an autopsy is performed. And language.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle, just writing for fun.

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**This Is Castle We're Talking About – Chapter 2**

Even though he wasn't necessarily a religious man, Perlmutter always performed a little ritual before he began an autopsy. He would stand at the head of the deceased and wish them God's speed in whichever direction they were going, if any at all.

Studying the man lying on the stainless steel table in front of him, he wasn't sure which direction that would be but he knew that whatever direction it was, Castle was sure to make a big splash – this was Castle they were talking about.

Perlmutter was a practical, by-the-book man who thought that Castle was a hindrance when it came to him doing his job efficiently and the ME hated inefficiency. He based his findings on facts, not fiction, and wasn't particularly fond of the crazy theories that Castle would dream up for why things happened. However, he couldn't begrudge that some of Castle's crazy theories turned out to be true.

Perlmutter allowed himself to think outside of the box for a minute. What would Castle say now if he were here? Ah, the man found a secret document of the Chinese mafia and they retaliated by putting too much thai pepper into the food, causing the man to gasp for air as the heat seared his mouth and throat and then choked when he inhaled the food. Or better yet, aliens had taken Castle away during the night and experimented on him, only returning him when he provided no more useful information.

The ME shook his head. No, this was much more simple, just a case of choking alone while eating. No Chinese mafia, no aliens – just a senseless death that would affect a number of people, most of them in the 12th precinct.

Perlmutter pulled on his gloves, turned on the video camera, and aimed it at the body on the table.

"Dr. Sydney Perlmutter, autopsy of Richard Egdar Castle, May 13, 2014, 1738 hours," Perlmutter stated for the record.

He quickly measured and weighed the body and stated that information and the gender before moving on to a quick summary of any identifying marks on the face and hands.

"Small scar above left eyebrow," Perlmutter stated. He carefully examined the face and hands. "Slight bruising on the right side of the jaw. No other noticeable scars or identifying marks on face and hands."

Next were the fingerprints even though Perlmutter knew they were already on file with the department due to the 3XK case.

Then came the meticulous inspection of the clothed body, but he didn't find anything out of the ordinary – just sweat pants and a t-shirt, no socks or shoes.

"Small amount of emesis on chin. Appears to be Chinese food." Perlmutter swabbed the inside of Castle's mouth. "No other food present in oral cavity." He would check the airway later during the autopsy for the food that caused the death.

Perlmutter took the camera off of the stand and slowly made a close-up recording of Castle as he walked from head to toe, being sure to capture every angle.

Next, he carefully cut off Castle's clothes, being sure to preserve all of them in an evidence bag.

"Signs of bladder and rectal incontinence resulting from the relaxation of muscles at the time of death," Perlmutter continued.

He then repeated the process of filming the body, making various remarks about the condition.

"Small, rectangular bruising on the right side of the ribs, possibly from a chair arm; also bruising on the right forearm, and small bruises along the spine. May have occurred from a fall before the victim died."

He focused on the lower part of the body. "Genitalia – no marks – adequate size," Perlmutter said as he moved things around for inspection. He then covered Castle with the modesty towel they used for all victims before leaning over and whispering something in his ear.

As he stood back up, Perlmutter frowned. At this point, there should be signs of livor mortis and rigor mortis setting in since it had been almost six hours since the call came. But Castle didn't present that – he just looked incredibly cold.

Perlmutter pulled out the small flashlight he carried in the pocket of his protective lab coat and gently pried one of Castle's eyelids open, flicking the light back and forth, watching for a pupillary reaction.

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The bright light hurt his eyes and Castle was sure that someone had stuffed him back in the freezer that he and Beckett had almost died in. This time though he was naked, with nothing to protect his flesh from the frosty metal that burned on contact or the freezing air that made him shiver.

But Kate wasn't there – where was she? Out shopping for her bridal gown? But no, his mom had gushed last week about how the 4 of them had already found the perfect dresses for the wedding and what a beautiful bride Kate was going to make.

Hell no, Castle thought as the light became brighter – he had fought too hard to get to where they were now and he wasn't giving up no matter what. But his body ignored his commands to move, to do something other than lay like a cold clump of clay, leading to a mounting tension that just brought tears of frustration to his eyes.

And that simple reaction is what saved his life.

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Perlmutter shook his head as he pocketed the flashlight – he shouldn't have expected any response – and then paused, moving closer to look at the thin trail of liquid coming out of the corner of Castle's left eye. Bodies could leak fluid after death, but this looked more like real tears, not the expected mixture of fat and mucus. But dead people didn't cry – so was Castle really dead?

He quickly wheeled over the state-of-the-art EKG that Castle had purchased for the department after what had nearly happened to Kyle Jennings in the autopsy room. Castle had joked at the time that if he ever wound up here on one of these tables, he wanted them to make sure he was really dead before they cut him open. Needless to say, Beckett was pissed at that comment, but didn't stay mad at the writer for long.

Perlmutter attached the leads and turned on the machine, watching the lines. He then turned the machine up to its most sensitive setting and held his breath. A minute passed and then another – wait – there, thought Perlmutter, looking at the slight blips in the lines. Yes, there was a heartbeat – slow and faint – not enough to be detected manually or by a stethoscope in a noisy room – but there definitely was a heartbeat. Hmmm, Castle was a zombie? he thought as the unwarranted thought crossed his mind.

Perlmutter ran to the phone and called for an ambulance.

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It was late and CIA Agent Martin Danberg was just putting files away when a lady in the blue skirt and white blouse walked into his office. "Sir, you wanted to be notified when we had a hit on ER4-SER." She handed him a file. "A Richard Castle in New York City was taken to the hospital this evening after he was presumed dead; traces of it showed up in his blood tests."

Danberg looked up at his assistant. "And why does that not surprise me?" He flipped open the file and stared at the picture for a moment. "Call the director and tell him we have a Tango Alpha Black – a contain and decontaminate. And, Candace, cancel all my meetings for the week. This could take a while."

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	3. Chapter 3

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

FYI – There are more characters is this story than I can select. And if I could think of a logical way to put Erik Vaughn in, I would.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle: Marlowe and ABC do. Just writing for fun.

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**This Is Castle We're Talking About – Chapter 3**

Pulling her overnight bag behind her, Kate quickly made her way to the passenger pick-up area of LaGuardia airport.

The first call from Esposito yesterday afternoon had rattled her, especially when he wouldn't go into details – just a quick "You need to come back. Castle has had an accident. I'll pick you up at the airport." No "and take you to the hospital" followed. She knew what that meant in cop-speak – Castle was dead. But she wouldn't believe it until she actually heard the words out of Espo's mouth and saw the body herself.

His second call later than night had done little to assuage her fears, especially with the cryptic "Castle's in the hospital – we'll explain everything when you get here."

Yesterday's severe weather had grounded all flights into New York so by the time she had caught the first flight the next morning, she was so anxious and white-fisted that the woman in the seat next to her felt like reassuring the normally calm Beckett that flying was one of the safest methods of transportation.

She just nodded in response, forcing all of her attention on the plane, willing it to fly faster, to get there sooner.

Beckett almost dropped the handle of her bag when she saw Espo, Ryan, and Lanie nervously waiting near the entrance and then picked up her pace. Kate's heel clicking furiously on the floor alerted them to her presence.

"What happened?" she demanded from her team as she got closer – no hello, no thanks for picking me up – there wasn't time for such pleasantries.

They glanced at each other before Ryan spoke up. "Hmmm, remember that zombie case we had a couple of years ago? Well, Castle died and came back to life."

"As a zombie?" Kate asked, confused, as they walked to the waiting car.

"No, just as himself," shrugged Espo. "He hasn't eaten anybody's brain yet as far as we know."

Kate stopped suddenly, confused. "Wait," she said, shaking her head. "Start from the beginning."

Espo seemed to have drawn the short end of the straw for that duty. "We got a call yesterday afternoon about 1 that there was a body drop at Castle's loft. Turned out it was Castle and he did look really dead."

"But he wasn't, girlfriend," added Lanie quickly, seeing Kate's distress.

"Demming sure thought he was," Ryan inserted. "Seemed really pissed about it too. Like Castle had gotten away with something."

"What was Demming doing at the loft?" Beckett asked, frowning.

Espo made a noise. "He thinks Castle is involved in smuggling artifacts just because he's got money and knows someone."

"Yeah," said Ryan. "You should have seen the way Javi clocked him."

Kate's mouth dropped open. "You hit Demming?" she asked Espo.

"It was just a little love tap," shrugged Espo. "To remind him who he's dealing with. Anyway," he continued, "Perlmutter had Castle transported to the morgue but found a heartbeat, so he sent him to the Mt. Sinai yesterday afternoon."

"And that's where we are headed now," said Ryan as he opened the front passenger door for Kate.

"Why would Demming think Castle's involved in smuggling?" asked Kate as Javi pulled out into traffic.

"He's got some pictures of Castle with a guy who's a prime suspect," said Ryan.

Espo snorted. "If Castle got into trouble for all the shady characters he knows, he'd be up the river by now."

"Has Demming let you see the pictures?" Kate asked.

"No," said Ryan. "He hasn't shared with us. Says it will put the case in jeopardy because Castle might warn the guy and take off."

"So we haven't been real forthcoming about Castle being alive," added Espo. "We'd like to hear his side first before we do."

"He's not awake?" asked Kate.

"They've had him in isolation since he got there, so no one has been able to see him or talk to him," Lanie responded and then smiled. "I'm sure you'll be the first person he wants to see though."

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"What do you mean – not dead?!" Demming hissed at his lieutenant as they walked into the Mt. Sinai ER. "I know how to take a pulse and I can assure you that he did not have one. He was as cold as a dead mackerel." He flashed his badge at the nurse. "What room is Richard Castle in?"

The nurse quickly pulled up the room assignments. "I'm sorry, sir, but there is no Richard Castle listed," she said, shaking her head.

"He was brought in around 6:00 pm yesterday," prompted Lt. Harms. "White male, about 40, short brown hair, blue eyes."

"No, I'm sorry," said the nurse, shaking her head. "We didn't have anyone who matched that description yesterday afternoon or evening." She looked over the information again. "There is no one listed by that name in the ER, the hospital, or morgue."

"Try Rogers," Kate said quietly, flashing her badge at the nurse.

Demmings started – he had been so furious that he hadn't heard them walk up, even with Kate's stilettos.

The nurse scanned the list again. "No, I'm sorry – no Rogers either. Yesterday was a very quiet afternoon – mostly flu cases."

Walking away from the desk, Javi quickly flipped out his phone and called Perlmutter. "Yeah, you sure?"

He walked back over to the group. "Perlmutter says the ambulance brought him here around 6 pm and he personally checked him last night around 8 pm."

"Excuse me, is there someone in charge that we can speak to?" Kate asked the nurse.

"I'll call Dr. Bresslier. Maybe he can help you."

They didn't have to wait too long before a serious man in a white doctor's coat walked up to them. "I'm Dr. Bresslier, hospital patient liaison – you wanted to see me?"

"Yes," said Beckett. "A white male about 40 was transported here yesterday from the morgue around 6 pm, but you seem to have no record of him being here. He would either go by Richard Castle or Richard Rogers."

Bresslier walked over to the computer. "I'm sure Nancy has checked the regular patients, but let me check the special patients," he said, pulling up some records. "No, we haven't admitted anyone by that name or who fits that description." He quickly checked some other files. "No – there's no one by that name listed. I'm sorry."

"How do you lose a patient?" demanded Demming.

"Maybe he felt better and left without being seen?" countered Bresslier.

"The guy was dead," said Demming.

"Have you tried the morgue?" asked Bresslier helpfully. "That's usually where they take the bodies."

"That's where he came from," replied Demming.

"Uh, we're not in the practice of admitting dead people," said Bresslier, slightly confused. "Are you sure you have the right hospital? Maybe he was transported to another hospital?" He looked down at his pager as it went off. "If you'll excuse me, I have to take this." He quickly walked away from them.

"Great," said Demming, muttering under his breath. "Now he's gone."

"Is there something you want to say, Detective Demming?" asked Beckett.

"Yes, a perfectly good case shot to hell. All because of your writer boy," replied Demming.

"And jealously doesn't become you, Tom" shot back Beckett. "Why do you think Castle's involved?"

"Pictures, Kate – I've got quite a few of them showing him over the past several weeks with a man we're investigating. It can't be purely coincidental."

"And these pictures make him a suspect?" Kate asked bluntly.

"No, but it makes him a person of interest. He's one of the rich and famous, Kate," Demming stated flatly. "And some of them think the laws don't apply to them. Castle's already demonstrated that on numerous occasions and gotten off with just wrist slaps – not this time."

Demming turned to Harms. "Let's get back and track down what's happened, including getting a warrant for Castle's arrest for evading a police search."

Espo snorted. "How can a dead guy evade a police search?"

"Well, apparently he's not dead and he's gone – that's evasion to me," said Demming as he walked out.

The team looked around the area and then walked out of the building back to the car as Kate pulled out her phone and called Perlmutter personally to verify his story.

It was then as he was talking that Kate noticed a black town car parked almost out of sight by the side of the building.

Beckett quickly pocketed her phone, strode over to the car, and pounded on the passenger window. "Detective Beckett, NYPD" she said loudly. "Identify yourself."

The window rolled down and Kate peered into the car. "Agent Danberg," she nodded.

"Detective Beckett," came the reply, "nice to see you again."

"Where's Castle and what has he gotten himself into?" she demanded.

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	4. Chapter 4

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

FYI – There are more characters is this story than I can select.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle: Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. Just writing for fun.

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**This Is Castle We're Talking About – Chapter 4**

After talking briefly with Danberg, Beckett walked back to where her team stood, watching her with puzzled expressions.

"Something's come up," she said as she ran a hand through her hair. "Why don't you guys go back to the precinct and I'll meet you there later."

Espo frowned at her. "You and dad keeping secrets again?" he chided, looking past her at the CIA agent standing by the car.

"Yeah, something like that," she said, smiling a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Okay," said Lanie, giving her a quick hug. "Call me if you need a ride… or just to talk."

"I'll be fine," replied Kate.

"Just don't drive your car into the river again," joked Ryan.

"And we'll let Gates know where you are," threatened Espo.

"Yeah, you do that," Kate said as they walked away. "See you later."

She turned and walked to where Danberg stood. "So now where?" she asked.

"Right here, actually," said Danberg as they walked back into the building. "This hospital has one of the best secured areas in the city."

Dr. Bresslier was waiting for them at the front desk. "Detective Beckett, Mr. Danberg," he nodded.

The doctor led them through several hallways and stopped at an elevator marked "Maintenance Only." He swiped his badge through the reader and then ushered them as the doors opened. Bresslier put his hand against a panel, waited for a moment, and then pressed an unmarked button. The elevator slowly rose.

"So how is our patient this morning?" asked Danberg.

"Responding nicely to treatment," the doctor replied. "We should have a better assessment later today."

"What exactly happened to Castle?" Beckett asked. No numbers displayed on the panel so she didn't know where they were going.

Bresslier looked at Danberg for permission to proceed. "Mr. Castle was administered a drug known as ER4-SER at some point yesterday, probably late morning. Let's just say that ER4-SER does what its name implies – erases a person's memory. Depending on the dosage given, the memory loss can be as short as an hour or two or as long as several days. From the levels we saw in Mr. Castle, he was administered enough ER4-SER to erase his memory for the previous 24 hours, which would put zero hour at some time Monday morning."

"And that's what we need your help with, Detective Beckett," said Danberg. "We need to recreate those 24 hours and find the event that someone doesn't want him to remember. It could be a matter of national security."

The elevator stopped and they waited for the doors to open before walking into a brightly lit small unadorned foyer.

Danberg walked over to the wall facing them and placed his right hand about shoulder height against the flat surface. A light flashed behind the wall and part of the wall slid open, revealing another room, dimly lit, on the other side.

As Danberg ushered her into the second room, Beckett took in the two guards with machine guns watching the elevator through the 1-way walls. Castle would so love this.

"We're working on your security clearance, but until that's activated, you'll need to be accompanied by someone at all times when you come to see Castle," Danberg said as he placed his hand against the wall opposite the wall they just walked through. "All of the staff here has been specifically selected for this floor and will be able to help you with anything that you need."

That wall slid open with a snick, revealing a large nurses station and several closed doors behind it. The doctors and nurses at the station quickly glanced up to note their presence and then returned to their work.

"That makes it sound like he could be here a while. What aren't you telling me?" Beckett turned to Bresslier.

The doctor paused for a moment. "The major side effects are muscle paralysis and slowed breathing and low heart rate, which can be almost impossible to detect manually depending on the amount given." He paused as they walked behind the nurses station and reached a room. "Mr. Castle was given a lethal dose and is very lucky to be alive. If he had been found 1 hour later than he was, he would have truly been dead.

"When he arrived here yesterday, his oxygen level was low, so we intubated him and have kept him sedated. He was given the counter-agent last night around 10 pm and his vitals are improving. We expect to wean him off of the ventilator by this afternoon." He paused.

"ER4-SER has other unpleasant side effects, including seizures which can result in memory loss and basically puts the person back to the time before they were given it – a ground hog's day effect if you will. More severe cases can result in cardiac arrest." Bresslier shrugged. "For some people, the side effects are permanent. We won't know for 24 to 36 hours after the counter-agent has been administered and it's important that Mr. Castle be monitored during that time. There isn't a lot of data on the long-term effects of this drug because it was abandoned shortly after it was created because of the side effects."

Beckett looked at Danberg who had the decency to look embarrassed. "If it was abandoned, how did Castle get it?"

"The manufacturer kept a few vials of ER4-SER for future study," Danberg said. "Six months ago, they reported that some of the vials were missing. We've been monitoring to see where it turns up."

Bresslier placed his palm to the right of a door and it silently slid opened.

Beckett stood at the door, ignoring the organized chaos taking place in the brightly lit room, and focused on the pale man in the bed. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that Castle was indeed alive even though he lay motionless except for the mechanical rise and fall of his chest. He was covered with so many lines and electrodes that it was hard to see him.

A monitor beeped out his heartbeat and the blood pressure machine inflated in regular intervals, announcing a rising blood pressure.

Teams of doctors and nurses stood around various machines in the room, studying the readings and commenting amongst themselves about "patient 0" or "he" and various other names.

Finally Beckett had had enough. "NYPD police! Stop what you're doing!" she shouted, making everyone in the room jump and turn toward her. A furious expression on her face, she strode into the room to the white board set up in the corner and grabbed a marker.

"That is a real living man in that bed and his name is Richard Castle, Castle, or Rick," she said as she wrote the names at the top of the board and then turned to face the people in the room. "And I would appreciate it if you would refer to him by name rather than 'patient 0' or 'this guy' or 'the poor SOB'."

Stunned, the people in the room stood quietly, watching her. Finally she shook her head in exasperation. "Okay, you can go back to what you were doing now."

"So, you must be the high-strung fiancé," said a familiar voice behind her.

Beckett turned and found that she was the one surprised this time. "Josh?"

# # # # # # # # # # #


	5. Chapter 5

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

FYI – There are more characters is this story than I can select.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle: Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. Just writing for fun.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

**This Is Castle We're Talking About – Chapter 5**

It was late afternoon when Kate returned to the precinct after the unsettling meeting with her ex-boyfriend.

Of course Josh would be there – Davidson was one of the best heart doctors in New York and his task was to monitor what affect the drug might have had on Castle's heart. He was simply too curious to excuse himself from the case, no matter his opinion of the writer.

Beckett quickly made sure that anything between herself and the surgeon was strictly on a professional level – no, she didn't want to have coffee and talk – there was nothing to talk about. Castle was her "one and done," her finance, and she would be at his side no matter what happened.

Dr. Bresslier finally suggested that Kate leave while they were weaning Castle off of the ventilator because the process could be unsettling to someone not versed in the mechanics. They were also unsure of what side effects he might have and wanted to stabilize him before he was allowed visitors. Danberg had chosen to stay at the hospital in hopes of taking a statement from Castle when he was coherent enough to answer questions.

Kate reluctantly agreed, knowing that she needed to start the investigation. She also knew that she had to call Martha and Alexis to let them know what was going on.

When Kate moved in to the loft, Castle had bought Martha the adjoining space next to her acting studio so that she could have a place to call her own. Ever the over-achiever, Alexis was still at the dorms, taking a fast-track summer course that would give her more credits and speed up her graduation.

Since Kate was now Castle's emergency contact, the team had not called his mother or daughter the previous day because they wanted to find out what was going on, especially with Demming accusing Castle of being involved in smuggling. They were used to him being in trouble, but this was something more than stealing a horse in Central Park.

And, like it or not, Beckett also needed to talk to Demming because he was now a material witness as to what had happened to Castle.

Danberg had already talked to the police commissioner and the teams' respective captains, paving the way for the somewhat peaceful cooperation between the two departments and making quite sure that everyone knew that Beckett was team lead on this even though Gates had left Espo in charge while she was gone.

As an added bonus, Danberg had also brought the FBI in on the case, stating that this could be a matter of foreign intelligence ops, so it was no surprise to Beckett to find Will Sorenson also waiting for her in the bull pen. Yes, thought Beckett, this was a special kind of hell she found herself in.

When she walked into the bullpen, Espo, Ryan, Demming, and Sorenson were eyeing each other territorially, posturing for all of their testosterone worth, not budging an inch in the contest of male wills.

Ever the peacekeeper of the group, Ryan was the first to break the mood when he saw Beckett. "How's Castle?" he asked.

"They really don't know yet," she said, not sugar coating anything. "They should know later today." She turned to Demming and Sorenson. "So are you going to make my life easier or harder, because, trust me, with the kind of day I've had, you do not want to make it harder."

Demming and Sorenson finally backed down from Kate's staring contest. "Okay, yeah," they replied in unison.

"So what have we got so far?" Beckett asked, walking into the conference room that had been especially prepared for this case following Danberg's requirements. The windows were covered by brown paper, the white board placed so that no one could see it from the door way.

The CIA agent had made it quite clear – they either played by his rules, or they were out and the CIA would take over. Beckett was sure she didn't like the implied threat of not being able to see Castle at all until this case was resolved to the government's satisfaction.

Beckett stared at the white board with a sense of déjà vu – Castle's picture was once again at the top of it, a sketchy time line started below it, but this time, they knew where he was, they just didn't know the why.

"A picture on a white board?" shrugged Ryan.

"You first, Tom," said Kate. "Why do you think Castle is involved in smuggling?"

Demming pulled some pictures out of the file he was holding and put them on the table. "Scotland Yard asked Major Crimes to investigate Bernard Linderhoff, a European art dealer, for smuggling of antiquities. Apparently he's been on their radar for years but they've never found anything tangible. As you can see by the surveillance photos taken in the last few weeks since he's been in New York, he's met with Castle several times."

The pictures showed Castle and Linderhoff in a variety of settings – the coffee shop that Castle stopped at on his way to the precinct each morning, getting on to an elevator in some high-rise building, a book signing that Castle had done two weeks ago, and finally a storage unit complex.

"This last one was taken Monday morning around 9 am near LaGuardia. Because of the jets, most of the conversation was garbled, but we were able to get this."

He pulled out a small MP3 player and pressed the play button.

"…let you know that the package arrived safely," said the heavily accented voice.

"That's all you got?" huffed Espo. "Kinda lame if you ask me."

"Judge Wilson thought it was enough for a search warrant," Demming tossed back. "The security cameras at Castle's loft show him entering the back entrance at 7 Monday evening and not leaving again. At 11:10 Tuesday morning, King Chow delivered Chinese food and Castle signed for it. We attempted to serve the search warrant at 1:15 Tuesday afternoon and that's when we found him dead – or rather not dead, as it turns out."

"So all of this is just circumstantial evidence at this point," said Beckett, walking to the blackboard.

She picked up a marker and started the time line at the time Castle and she arrived at the airport Monday morning. "The event we're looking for occurred sometime between this time and the time that Demming arrived at the loft." She marked a second line on the board to indicate that time. "This is the timeline we have to fill in."

"Ryan, trace Castle's footprint during that time – cell phone records, twitter, credit cards – let's find out what he was doing," continued Beckett, turning from finance mode to detective mode. "Will, get me everything you can on Linderhoff – I want to know if there is really a connection there. Espo, get me the security tape from Castle's loft for Monday and Tuesday. And I'll want the autopsy video."

"Ah, you sure about that?" asked Ryan, pausing what he was doing.

"Have either of you watched it?" she asked, looking at Espo and Ryan.

"No – seemed kinda unnecessary at the time, since he wasn't dead," shrugged Espo.

"Well, let's see if Perlmutter missed anything." Kate turned to Demming. "Is the loft still marked off as a crime scene?"

Demming nodded his head. "CSU finished going through it, but I wanted to do a second walk-through. We've had a police officer at the door at all times to keep people out. We've also kept the media out of this."

"Good; we'll go together. Ryan, see if you can get ahold of Martha and Alexis and have them meet us at the loft in about an hour." Kate pulled out her cell phone and quickly pressed a speed-dial number. "And I want the exact addresses where those pictures were taken." She turned her attention to her phone. "Hey, Lanie. Yeah, doing okay. Listen, I need a place to stay tonight. The loft is still off-limits."

# # # # # # # # # # #

"You look good, Kate – happy," said Demming.

Kate nodded as she drove the familiar route to Castle's loft. "Yeah, I am." She checked her rear viewer mirror. "You know, you're wrong about Castle."

"Kate – this is Castle we're talking about – he fits the profile – he's got money, he knows powerful people, he's got a rap sheet full of misdemeanors that he's gotten away with with just a slap on the wrist. It wouldn't be the first time someone like him did this – thought they were above the law. They say that there is no victim in white collar crime, but there is and it's our job to bring them to justice."

"I thought people in America were considered innocent until proven guilty. It sounds like you've already convicted him." Beckett pulled into a parking lot and stopped the car before looking at Demming. "So tell me what's really bothering you, Tom."

Demming thought a minute before responding. "I know you broke up with me to be with him that summer, but all he did was break your heart, Kate. And that's something I can't forgive."

"Tom, that's not yours to forgive," said Beckett softly. "Castle and I have had a lot of missteps – we've broken each other's hearts several times – but we're together and it's good now."

"Yeah," said Demming. "I heard about the rock that he gave you. The rumor is you can take someone out if you hit them with it."

"It's not all that big," Kate said, looking at the ring on her finger.

"The one I would have been able to give you would have been a lot smaller," replied Demming, "you know, on detective's pay."

"You're wrong about him, Tom," said Beckett, pulling back out into traffic. "You'll see."

# # # # # # # # # # #

When they arrived at the building that Castle's loft was in, Demming went upstairs while Kate waited for Martha and Alexis. She thought the meeting would go better without the crime scene tape staring at them before they knew all the details. She didn't have to wait too long before a town car pulled up and the two red-heads got out.

"Kate, dear," exclaimed Martha, walking up to Kate, giving her a hug. "You're gone a just a couple of days and who knows what my son gotten himself into."

"Martha, Alexis," said Kate as she hugged them back. "Well, you know Rick," she began, slipping back into finance mode.

"Yes, I do," said Martha. "And that doesn't answer my question."

"You know that he dropped me off at the airport Monday morning, but sometime after that, he may have seen something that someone wants covered up and they apparently poisoned him."

Alexis gasped and grabbed Kate's arm. "Is my dad okay?" she asked anxiously, tears in her eyes.

"He's at the hospital," Kate said quickly to reassure her, "and he's being taken care of."

"When can we see him?" asked Martha, understandably upset.

"Probably tomorrow. He's in a secure unit right now, so he's safe. What we need to find out is what he did on Monday and Tuesday. I'd like you to come up to the loft and tell me if you see anything that can help us."

"Okay," nodded Alexis, wiping a tear away.

It was when Kate was giving the girl a gentle hug that she noticed a man on the opposite street corner taking pictures of the area. He looked like a tourist, but the camera seemed to linger too long in their direction several times.

"Alexis, don't turn around," Kate said quietly. "Do you have your cell phone?"

Alexis nodded and reached into her purse.

"Pretend like someone called you and step away to answer it. There's a man on the street corner behind you taking pictures. Can you get a picture of him without him noticing it?"

"I can try," the red-head whispered back. She pulled out her phone and then moved away from Beckett and her grandmother a few steps. As she pretended to answer the phone, she turned the phone to video mode and brought it up to her ear, positioning herself so that it captured the corner where the man stood. She nodded for a few moments, careful not to move the phone, and then finally turned it off after she glanced at Beckett.

The man had finally walked down the street, continuing to take pictures of the area.

The three women quickly walked into the building and went up to the loft, where Demming was waiting for them at the front door.

"Do you have someone watching the building?" was the first thing Kate asked him.

"No, just Castle's place," replied Demming.

"Someone seemed very interested in the building and us a few minutes ago. May I?" Kate asked, motioning for Alexis' phone. The girl handed her the phone and Beckett dialed a number. "Ryan, I'm sending you a video we just took in front of Castle's building. See if you can identify the man taking the photos. Thanks."

She quickly sent the video to the precinct and then gave the phone back to Alexis.

"Martha, Alexis," said Kate in the way of introductions, "this is Detective Tom Demming. He's in major crimes."

"Oh," said Alexis, making an immediate connection to a character her father had once written and then deleted from his Nikki Heat novels.

Kate handed Martha and Alexis vinyl gloves to put on and then pulled on a pair as they walked through the door. "Just look around and tell me if you see anything that can help us figure out what Castle was doing, but don't touch anything. His laptop was found in his study and he had apparently been writing after he got home Monday."

The immediate thing that jumped out at them was while it may have looked normal to someone who didn't know Castle, everything was just wrong if Castle had been writing. There were no half-full cups of cold greasy coffee sitting unattended on the counter tops and tables to fuel his caffeine-induced writing haze. The coffee pot hadn't even been plugged in. The only things out of place were the take-out containers of Chinese food sitting on the kitchen counter.

"Did Sylvia come?" asked Alexis as she walked into the kitchen area. "I thought Dad had given her the week off since he was going to be the only one home."

"No, she's in Puerto Rico visiting her family," replied Kate.

"Then he wasn't writing," Martha and Alexis said at the same time.

"Not that Richard is a slob, but it just looks too clean," said Martha, frowning.

"There aren't any coffee cups anywhere," said Alexis. "And Dad forgets to eat so he wouldn't have ordered anything." She looked at the takeout ticket on the counter. "This is his autograph signature – it's not the one he uses when he's paying for something."

Martha walked into their bedroom. "Kate, were there any clothes in the laundry hamper before you left?"

"No," said Kate, walking in behind her. "It was empty."

"Well, there's clothes in there now and Richard has a tendency to forget to change when he's writing – in fact, he has a tendency to forget everything when he's writing."

"I think things have been moved around in here," Alexis called from the den. "See, over there," she pointed to one of the bookshelves as they walked into the room. "Dad's Casino Royale books – he always keeps them separate, but someone's put them with his James Bond collection."

Martha assessed the condition of the loft. "It's as if someone has read that dribble that Paula puts on Richard's website about how he writes and staged it."

"Alexis, let's go check your room and see if anything is missing," said Kate.

The results were the same – everything looked normal, but Alexis could tell that someone had carefully gone through her room and not quite put everything back the same way. Nothing was missing however.

Kate pulled out her phone as they walked back downstairs. "Espo, get CSU back over here and do a full sweep of the loft. See if we can get any usable prints."

"Will do," came the reply. "And Danberg has brought in the owner of the company who manufactured the drug. He's waiting at the precinct now."

"Okay, we'll be right there." Beckett pocketed her phone and turned to Martha and Alexis. "Alexis, just to be on the safe side, why don't you spend the night with your grandmother tonight? I'll put a patrol unit outside to make sure you're safe."

"Sure," Alexis agreed, nodding. "What about you since you can't stay here? Do you want to join us?"

Kate smiled at her. "Thanks, but I'm staying with Lanie. And we've still got the comfortable couch at the precinct if it gets too late. I'll call you tomorrow when I know something more about your dad and arrange for you to visit him."

Kate waited for the town car to pick up Martha and Alexis before she and Demming drove back to the precinct in silence.

Both Ryan and Espo were hanging around their desks looking too busy when they walked into the bull pen.

"So who's the manufacturer?" asked Kate as she walked to the conference room.

"You really aren't going to believe this," mouthed Ryan as she walked past him and into the conference room.

"Hello, Kate," said Eric Vaughn, "I was hoping we'd get the chance to meet again."

# # # # # # # # # # #


	6. Chapter 6

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

FYI – There are more characters is this story than I can select.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle: Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. Just writing for fun.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

**This Is Castle We're Talking About – Chapter 6**

"Mr. Vaughn," Beckett nodded as she walked into the conference room. "Please, have a seat."

Espo and Ryan followed her into the room, not willing to let her be alone with the man who almost wrecked Caskett's relationship.

Vaughn beamed an endearing smile at her. "I'm sorry we didn't have a chance to say a proper goodbye the last time we met. I hope you'll let me make it up to you. Perhaps dinner tonight?"

"I can assure you that isn't necessary." Beckett looked at the file Ryan gave her, carefully holding the papers so that her engagement ring was quite noticeable. "One of your companies manufactured a drug named ER4-SER and several of the vials were stolen about a year ago."

For a moment, Vaughn's careful façade wavered before he put on his business face. "If this is official business, then I request that my lawyer be present."

"You aren't being charged with anything," Beckett responded. "You are however a material witness in a criminal case that most likely involves a breach in US national security, and as you know, civil rights may not be applicable in that case."

Vaughn shifted in his seat, glancing at Esposito and Ryan. "I'm not sure this is appropriate-"

"As of 1 hour ago, this team was given SAP clearance concerning project Eraser. If you like, I'm sure our mutual friend can move this meeting to a more secure setting," said Beckett, cutting him off. "What I need to know is how you determined that the drug was stolen and any suspects identified in the theft."

"I can assure you that several governmental agencies have already looked into this matter," Vaughn countered. "I'm not sure that your team can contribute anything else at this point."

"It's not a matter of our team contributing to you; it's a matter of you contributing to an active investigation." Beckett sat silently, watching Vaughn and waiting

Vaughn finally shifted again. "Yes, we developed ER4-SER for the US government several years ago but determined that the drug was unsuitable for use due to the side effects."

Beckett quickly glanced at Espo and Ryan when Vaughn said that to make sure they wouldn't give anything away, but they had their cop faces on and remained silent, serious. She knew they would pepper her with questions later on for having kept this from them.

"We destroyed all of the lot except for 10 vials, which we kept for further study," Vaughn continued. "The lab where those vials were stored followed stringent security protocols put in place by Homeland Security, but about a year ago, we found that 5 of the vials had been replaced with vials that contained just water when we did a spot check. We were able to pinpoint the time frame that the switch had been made and whoever did this used a high-tech device to override the lock on the door. They must have been in a hurry because they left the device. We've spent the past year trying to determine how it works, but haven't been able to yet."

"Who had access to the room where the vials were stored?" Beckett asked.

"5 of us – the 4 scientists who developed the drug and myself, but we were all cleared during the investigation."

Beckett studied Vaughn. "I can see the other four having access, but why you? Did you work on the research?"

Vaughn bristled at that statement. "I oversaw that the security protocols were followed – did random spot checks, like I do at all of my facilities."

"And we all know how well that turned out," said Espo under his breath.

Kate shot him a look to shut him up and then looked down as her phone beeped at her. "If you'll give Detective Ryan the names and whereabouts of the scientists – we'll need to verify their stories." She stood and opened the door to the conference room. "Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Vaughn, and I'm sure if we need you again, our mutual friend can find you."

She left Espo and Ryan to deal with Vaughn as she went to find out what Demming had.

# # # # # # # # # #

Sorenson was video-chatting with Agent Jordan Shaw when Kate walked into Gate's office. Since they needed another private location, Esposito had agreed to let them use the captain's office in her absence.

"Kate, it's good to see you again," said Shaw as Beckett walked in front of the computer. "And I understand that congratulations are in order. It's about time."

"Thanks," said Kate, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Will says that you have some information for us?"

"Yes," replied Shaw. "I managed to track down Linderhoff. As you know, he was in New York on Monday and then flew to Boston to oversee the delivery of an exhibit. He'll be flying back into New York tomorrow morning for a meeting at the UN and then leaving for Europe the day after. He said he would be glad to meet with you any time after 1 pm tomorrow, either at the UN or at your office."

"Any reason why Major Crimes and Scotland Yard would be interested in him?" Beckett asked.

"Nothing really stands out, but there's not a lot of information on him or his shipping company in our files," she said, shaking her head while she read from her phone. "He started the company in the 1950's specifically for transporting artifacts to any part of the world. They don't have a main office and he's kept the company private so there aren't any business records available. From what I can tell, he's very selective about his clientele. However, when you Google him, he's got a picture with almost every head of state since the early 60's, so he seems to be very well connected."

Shaw paused for a second. "Scotland Yard started their investigation of him last year but there aren't any specifics about what they were looking for." She looked up. "I hope that helps – I'll keep digging on this end to see if I can find anything else."

"Thanks again. I appreciate the help," said Beckett.

"I'm glad I can help. And keep me in the loop – on everything, okay?"

"I will," said Kate, blushing slightly.

Will turned off the video feed and paused for a moment. "So what would Castle make of all this?" he finally asked.

Kate thought a moment and smiled slightly, missing her partner and how much easier this would be with him here. "I'm sure he'd come up with some crazy theory about the cold war and the shipping company being a front for the transporting of spies."

Sorenson snorted. "I think you've read too many of his books." He stood and walked to the door. "It's late – how about some dinner?"

"Thanks, but I think I'm just going to stay here tonight – see what else I can dig up, wait for the hospital to call."

Sorenson nodded and then paused. "Kate, I know how you can get and I think you're too close to all of this – that you can't be objective. You might think about turning this investigation over to someone else. I'm sure Jordan would be glad to help out."

"Will, I'm fine," said Beckett. "And if I get to the point where I'm not, I'll call in the cavalry."

"Just make sure you do that," said Sorenson, not believing her one second. "I'd hate to see you get hurt because of this."

# # # # # # # # # #

The couch in the break room was fairly comfortable, but when she finally laid down on it, Beckett found that she was still restless, unable to relax. Even a quick intense workout in the gym and a hot shower afterward did little to ease her anxiety. She smiled to herself – when had she gotten so use to having Castle around that she couldn't sleep well without him being there? But this was Castle they were talking about.

# # # # # # # # # #


	7. Chapter 7

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

FYI – There are more characters is this story than I can select. BTW, do you notice that they reuse names – Jordan, the auto place and Jordon Shaw, FBI agent. Colin Hunt and Jackson Hunt – hmmm, wonder if Castle and Colin are half-brothers? Brett Tucker does have blue eyes and he and Nathan Fillion are about the same height, but Nathan is one year older than Brett – plot bunny anyone? And IMDB has the name listed as Colin Hunt and another site has it as Simon Hunt – maybe they're twins? Another plot bunny? Anyway, the show uses Colin Hunt, so that's what I'm going with.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle: Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. Just writing for fun.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

**This Is Castle We're Talking About – Chapter 7**

It only took a few more minutes of tossing and turning for Kate to be off the couch and at her desk in a flash and pulling out her phone.

Scotland Yard – she should have thought of that before. If Detective Inspector Colin Hunt still worked there, maybe he could give her some inside information on Linderhoff. London was 6 hours ahead of them and if she was lucky, he was already up.

She quickly dialed the number and waited.

"Well, if it isn't the very lovely Detective Beckett. What can I do for you, Kate?" came the warm, friendly British accented voice.

"Colin, I have a favor to ask but you can always say no. This isn't official yet."

"Kate, you know me – where would I be if I did things by the books? What can I help with?"

"Scotland Yard is investigating Bernard Linderhoff. I need to know why as soon as possible – it could be a matter of life and death."

"Hmmm," said Hunt. "The name doesn't ring a bell, but let me see what I can dig up."

"Thank you," breathed Kate with a sigh of relief. "Please call when you find something – it doesn't matter what time it is."

"I will." There was a pause. "So did you ever have that conversation we talked about?"

"Yes, yes, we finally did. And thanks again for everything, Colin. I really appreciate it."

"No worries. I'll ring when I find something." Hunt hung up the phone, pulled up a search program, and then paused. That night they had drinks before he returned to London, he knew he wouldn't hear from Detective Beckett again on a personal level. Not that he minded; he had made up his mind years ago that he'd never be the rebound guy and the 10th time that Kate had mentioned Castle in the 30 minutes they sat at the airport lounge, he knew that's what he'd be. Right after they had announced his flight, Hunt had held her hands and carefully looked into her eyes and told her that they definitely had a connection and he was very very tempted. He also told her that he was pretty sure she was in love with someone else – he had a really good idea who it was – and that she needed to make things right with him. Hunt let go of her hands, kissed her on the side of the head, and then walked away, not looking back.

(About the same time, Jacinda had also come to a similar conclusion after Castle kept bringing up "Kate did this" and "Kate did that" during their dates and quickly booked an emergency flight out of town so that she could make a graceful exit.)

# # # # # # # #

The next call Kate received was the hospital telling her that Castle was awake and responsive and asking a lot of questions that weren't being answered.

Dr. Bresslier met her at the side door and escorted her to the maintenance elevators, briefly updating her on Castle's condition and making sure that her handprint opened the locked doors and the guards knew who she was. The powers that be had decided that Beckett would be the only one on her team allowed to visit the secured location based on the premise that the fewer people who knew about this location, the better. Family visits would occur in another part of the hospital under a watchful eye.

The report about Castle was good at this point, but guarded. He hadn't suffered any side effects yet, though his blood pressure and heart rate were elevated and he seemed agitated. Because of the improvement, they had moved him to a private room, still in the secured area, where they could monitor him 24/7 as long as he was there.

Beckett watched him on the monitor for a few minutes before she went into the room.

Wrapped in a white robe, wearing slippers, Castle stood by the bed, staring at the TV with a confused deer-in-the-headlights expression on his face, flipping through the channels as if trying to make sense of what had happened.

"Kate, thank god," he exclaimed when she walked into the room; he rushed to grab her in a tight hug, holding her to him.

She could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

"Are you okay? Were we in a wreck on the way to the airport? No one will tell me anything and I think I'm in a hospital, but they wouldn't tell me about you and there's no phone so I couldn't call anyone to find out and they won't tell me their names and the TV says it's Thursday morning but I took you to the airport on Monday—"

"Shhh, Castle, it's okay," say Beckett, putting her finger against his lips to quiet him. "It's okay." She guided him to the bed and sat him down. "Castle – Rick, you need to listen without interrupting because what I'm going to tell you is very strange." Beckett paused, gathering her thoughts, trying to find the best way to explain what happened. "First, everyone is fine – everyone is safe."

Castle opened his mouth to say something but Kate cut him off. "You took me to the airport Monday morning around 9 am and then got back to the loft around 7 pm. Demming thinks you're involved in smuggling and served a warrant on you Tuesday afternoon, but when the doorman opened the door, they found you on the floor and thought you were dead. Perlmutter was going to do an autopsy, but he saw that you were alive and they brought you here. Apparently some time Monday evening or Tuesday morning, you were given a drug called ER4-SER that erases your memory because someone thinks you saw something. It also acts as a neuromuscular paralyzer, which is why they thought you were dead. They gave you the counter agent Tuesday evening which you're responding to. Espo called me Tuesday afternoon and I got back here Wednesday morning. The team has been working the case since then and it is Thursday morning now."

Castle stared at Kate. "Huh? I'm still dreaming – aren't I? But these aren't the type of dreams I usually have of you," he said to himself. "Or you're punking me, but it's not my birthday or any anniversary that I can think of. And it's not April."

"Rick, I need you to focus now," Beckett said. "Do you remember dropping me off at the airport on Monday?"

Castle thought back to what he remembered last and shook his head. "You packed Sunday night and we watched an episode of Temptation Lane and then went to bed." He looked at her with frightened eyes. "That's the last thing I remember."

"So you have no idea what you did Monday after you dropped me off?"

Castle slowly shook his head and then had an "aha" moment. "I was going to meet with Paula and Gina at Black Pawn to sign some papers, but didn't have anything planned the rest of the day, except to write."

"Demming has pictures of you at a warehouse by the airport Monday morning after you dropped me off – do you remember going there?"

"Is it the one south of the airport?" Castle responded, then stopped, and stared at Kate. "Demming as in Tom Demming?"

Kate nodded. "Yes, he's on the case. Back to the warehouse?"

Castle frowned and then smiled sheepishly. "I was watching your plane take off," he said simply. "When Alexis was little – Alexis and mother? Are they okay?" he said suddenly.

"They're fine – they're staying at your mom's and I've got a unit on them. Now you were saying…?"

"When Alexis was little and I couldn't go with her when she went to see Meredith, I would go to the end of the warehouse and watch her plane take off – the manager was a fan. Wait – why does Demming have pictures of me?" Castle asked.

"Sorenson said the man you were seen with at the warehouse is being investigated by the FBI and Scotland Yard for antiquity smuggling." Kate replied.

"Will Sorenson? Next you'll tell me that Erik Vaughn and Colin Hunt are involved also," Castle scoffed.

Kate nodded slowly. "Vaughn's company manufactured the drug ER4-SER and Colin is looking into why Scotland Yard is investigating Bernard Linderhoff."

"Who?"

"The man you've been photographed with several times in the past few weeks," said Kate.

"I'm dreaming," said Castle, frowning, standing up and pacing, running a hand through his hair. "This is a demented version of a Christmas Carol with all of your ex's and I'm stuck in it."

Beckett reached out and stopped him, putting a hand on his chest. "No, Rick, this is real." She took his hand and placed his palm over her heart. "And I'm real. Just focus on that. And we'll figure this out – I promise you that."

Castle closed his eyes and felt Kate's heart beating under his hand, grounding him. They stood there for a minute until a knock at the door interrupted them.

"Excuse me," said a nurse with a wheelchair. "We need to take Mr. Castle for a CT scan. If you'd like to, you can accompany him."

Insisting that he was thoroughly capable of walking, Castle reluctantly got into the chair, but refused to let go of Kate's hand.

He finally had to let go when they got to the scan room because they wouldn't let Kate inside. "I need to check in with Espo and Ryan, but I'll be right outside," she reassured him as she kissed him lightly on the lips. "See you in a little bit."

Beckett walked to a waiting room before pulling out her phone and then made a quick call to the team to set up a meeting with Paula and Gina to see what they had met about.

As she was ended the call, she saw Dr. Bresslier and several of the nurses from the private floor rushing past her into the CT area.

She started to follow, but the doctor stopped her. "I'm sorry, but there's been a setback. If you want, you can wait in Mr. Castle's room."

Kate stared at the door and then returned to the secured area to wait for Castle to return.

# # # # # # # #

The wait was longer than she anticipated but they finally wheeled Castle back into the room. He was unconscious but not intubated, which may have been a good sign, the monitor beeping out a steady heart rhythm.

"What happened?" she asked the doctor.

"Mr. Castle suffered a seizure right before we started the CT scan. We've stabilized him and are just waiting for him to wake up on his own. When that happens, we'll assess his condition again."

"Thank you, doctor," said Beckett as she stood by the bed, holding Castle's hand.

# # # # # # # # #

The nurse moved a chair next to the bed so that Kate could sit while she watched Castle's face for any signs that he was waking.

An hour later, he finally moved, shifting uncomfortably in bed, before his eyes fluttered opened. Kate's face was the first thing he saw.

"Morning," he said, smiling at her and stretching. "How'd you sleep last night? I've set the coffee pot to..." Castle's voice trailed off as he looked around, realizing they weren't at the loft and he had no idea where they were. "Uh, Kate – what's going on?"

"Castle, I need you to listen and not interrupt because what I'm going to tell you is very strange." Beckett went through the explanation again while Castle lay dumbfounded on the bed. This time, she didn't leave out the side effects of the drug since he was experiencing them.

"You mean that each time I have a seizure, I'm not going to remember what you told me?" Castle finally interrupted. "How many times have you told me this?"

"This is the second time," said Beckett. "I told you this morning and they took you for a CT scan and you had a seizure."

"How long is this going to last – these side effects?" Castle asked. "Are—are they permanent?"

Beckett pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, keeping her voice steady. "Dr. Bresslier isn't sure. Each case is different."

"So each time I have a seizure, you're going to have to explain everything to me again?"

"Yes," nodded Beckett. "It looks that way."

"Wow," said Castle, running a hand through his rumpled hair. "Might just be easier if I just wrote this down and read it each time – in fact, it would make a great book if I had thought of it first." He reached for the call switch and pressed it.

"Can I help you?" said the nurse.

"Yes, can I have a notebook and pen please? Thanks," he said. Castle looked back at Beckett. "So all of your ex's are in on this? What about doctor motorcycle boy? You didn't mention him."

"He's watching your heart," Beckett replied.

"Oh, good – just the person I'd trust to do that," Castle shuddered.

A nurse brought in a notebook and pen.

Castle opened the notebook and looked at Beckett again. "Start from the beginning and go slowly," and then stopped. "Look, Kate, how am I going to convince myself that this is from me? That this is real, not some crazy story I've made up."

"Well, the truth is always stranger than fiction," Beckett commented and then thought for a moment. "Write down something in the beginning that only you would know."

Castle held the book to his chest and looked shocked. "But what if someone else reads this?"

Beckett harrumphed and rolled her eyes at him. "Castle, it doesn't have to be embarrassing, just something that lets you know that you wrote it."

"Okay," said Castle, unconvinced. He thought for a moment and scribbled something in the book. "But you have to promise that when you read this, you won't laugh. And you definitely won't let mother or Alexis or anyone else read this – you'll burn the book first. Promise?"

"I promise," nodded Kate, crossing her heart with her finger.

"Okay, I'm ready," said Castle.

Beckett slowly went through the story again, Castle creating the timeline in his own words about what had happened and what the team was investigating.

When they finished, he closed the book and wrote "Private – for the eyes of RAR and KHB only" in bold letters on the cover. Castle then held the book out to Kate. "Here – I'd like you to read what I wrote."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yeah – this is me being more transparent," he said as she took the book. "I'll just be in there for a minute." Castle walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

Beckett took a deep breath before opening the book and reading what Castle had written. She found it hard to keep a straight face the more she read and finally composed herself when Castle walked back in the room.

"Well?" he asked.

Beckett shrugged her shoulders, trying hard not to smile. "It – it could have happened to anyone." She looked at her watch. "Uh, Ryan and I have a meeting with Paula and Gina in about 30 minutes. I'll see you in a little while – do you want me to bring you something?"

"An answer – a way out of here 'cus I don't think they're going to let me out any time soon," Castle said.

"It'll be okay, Castle – I promise," said Kate, giving him a quick hug before exiting the room in a hurry.

Beckett waited until she was in the elevator before bursting out laughing. The situation was too serious for this, but this was Castle we were talking about and only he could come up with something so personal. It turns out there were unfortunate drawbacks to riding a horse in the nude.

# # # # # # # # # #


	8. Chapter 8

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

FYI – There are more characters is this story than I can select. Sorry about replacing Chapter 7 several times. I had a website listed in the Summary section that Fanfic was stripping so I just used other site.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle: Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. Just writing for fun.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

**This Is Castle We're Talking About – Chapter 8**

Rather than Ryan, Demming was waiting for her in the hospital parking lot.

"Where's Ryan?" Beckett asked.

"He and Esposito are tracking down another lead. Where to?"

"Black Pawn – Castle had a meeting with his book agent and publisher Monday morning. Let's find out what they know."

# # # # # # #

Gina and Paula were drumming their well-manicured nails on the table in the conference room at Black Pawn when Beckett and Demming walked in.

"Gina Cowell and Paula Haas, this is Detective Demming," Beckett said. "Tom, Gina is Rick's publisher and Paula is his book agent. Thank you for seeing us on such short notice."

"Not a problem," said Paula. "In fact, Detective Beckett – Kate – you could be doing us a favor. We had set up a meeting with Rick on Monday—"

"And the rat called and cancelled at the last minute," continued Gina. "I don't know how he found out but when I find the person who told him, there will be payback."

"Found out what?" Beckett asked. "He said that you wanted him to sign some papers."

"Yes, because if we told him the real reason we wanted to see him, he definitely wouldn't have come," said Paula, leaning closer to Beckett and looking at her intently. "Kate, we've got a serious problem with Rick."

Tom smirked at Beckett before turning to the women. "What exactly has Castle done?"

Paula threw up her hands. "It's not what he's done – it's what he hasn't done, which is exactly no PR for the past year. How can I market that?"

"Exactly," continued Gina. "He's cut his book signings down to a minimum and has only done one tour – he hasn't been to any galas – he's not getting his name out there anymore. Kate, he's practically turned into a hermit."

"So this was a PR intervention?" asked Kate, confused.

"Yes. Do you know what not having your name out there does in terms of revenue?" asked Gina. "Sure, he's meeting his deadlines and book sales are good, but how long will that last if no one knows who he is?"

"He's so squeaky clean, he's barely a side-note now," Paula exclaimed. "Can you talk to him? Maybe get him to sign chests again – get his name on page 6 a couple of times a month?"

Gina nodded in agreement. "This isn't the image we built for him. Tell him to quit being so good, for god's sake."

The two women looked at Beckett expectantly.

"Well," said Beckett, pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I'll see what I can do and let you know."

"Thanks. You know, image is everything in this business," said Gina. "So why did you want to see us?"

"Did our Ricky do something a little naughty?" Paula added hopefully.

"Uh, no," said Demming. "He's been helping me with a case and hasn't had time to come to your office. I told him we'd be in the area and see if we could pick up the papers you wanted him to sign, but since there aren't any papers…"

Both Gina and Paula sighed at the same time, disappointed. "Well, we could always hope…"

Beckett stood up and nodded at them. "Have a good day," she said, walking out.

# # # # # # # # # # #

Demming studied the numbers on the elevator as they traveled to the ground floor.

"Wow – so that's how the other half live," he commented. Given the choice, he probably would have taken the ER4-SER drug too rather than meet with those two women.

"Yeah, and thanks for not saying anything," Beckett replied.

"Like I said, we aren't involving the press in this."

Kate nodded, carefully thinking about what Gina and Paula had said. She hadn't noticed the changes, but it was true. She thought when their relationship was out in the open, it would have been a whirlwind of activities – charity events and galas, photographers, page 6, etc., but in the last year, they had only been on page 6 one time when the photographers first noticed them together. After that, they had been leading her life, not Castle's. Had what happened in Paris and afterward changed him that much? She knew they would have to have a serious discussion – this definitely wasn't the Castle that she knew.

# # # # # # # # #

Their next stop was the UN to meet with Linderhoff. He was a jovial looking white-haired man who could almost be mistaken for a very clean-cut Santa Claus.

He was waiting for them in the coffee shop, sipping on a caramel latte, and stood when they walked in.

"Detectives Beckett, Demming, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"We have some questions about your dealings with a Mr. Richard Castle," Beckett stated matter-of-factly. "You've been seen with him several times in the past few weeks."

"Ah, yes, a very nice gentleman," nodded Linderhoff, smiling. "I'm a big fan of Derrick Storm. I had several first editions that I was hoping he would sign."

Beckett glanced at Demming who shook his head – Linderhoff didn't have any books in any of the pictures he had seen.

"And did he agree?"

Linderhoff shrugged. "Our meetings were so quick that we really didn't have enough time to discuss that. I was hoping that we could have had coffee at some point while I was in town but haven't had the chance to ask him."

Beckett bit her bottom lip. "What about Scotland Yard – why are they investigating you?"

Linderhoff laughed. "If I had a dollar for each time I've been investigated over the years, I'd be a millionaire on that alone. Let's see," he narrowed his eyes in thought. "This time, there is a misunderstanding about the price of a shipment, so I've decided not to work with that client any more. They know someone in Scotland Yard so they've requested an investigation. It's just a simple business matter gone wrong, Detective."

"You and Castle met Monday morning at the warehouse by the airport and you mentioned a shipment," said Demming.

"Ah, so you must be the man with the camera who has been following me. Oh, it's an occupational hazard," Linderhoff said at Demming's slightly shocked expression. "One gets used to it." He stirred his latte. "Yes, we have a mutual friend who's used my services on occasion and I was just letting him know that my shipments always arrive safely, in case Mr. Castle is ever interested. You always have to network in this business – you never know when you'll meet a future client."

"Thank you for your time," said Beckett. "If we have any more questions—"

"Feel free to contact me on my personal number, Detective," he said, handing her a business card. "I'm always glad to assist the US and British governments. By the way, is there a reason why you're asking me these questions rather than Mr. Castle?"

Beckett paused for a second. "Mr. Castle had an accident Monday afternoon. We're trying to track down what happened to him."

"Oh, no," exclaimed Linderhoff. "I'm sorry to hear that. I trust that Mr. Castle will be all right – he's an excellent writer."

Kate smiled slightly. "He should be. Thank you again for your time."

Linderhoff watched them walk off and then pulled out his phone. "We need to speed up the shipment. Things are getting too hot right now. Yes, this will be the last one and then we're out of business."

# # # # # # # # # # #

Danberg was waiting for Beckett and Demming when they got back to the precinct. "I'm not sure what you did, but you sure shook the hornet's nest when you met with Linderhoff. He's rebooked his tickets to Morocco for Saturday morning."

"And Morocco has no extradition treaty with the United States and England," said Beckett. "So we've got 2 days to find out what he's up to before we lose him forever."

Ryan walked into the conference room. "Hey, Beckett, they want you back at the hospital. Castle's condition has taken a turn for the worse."

# # # # # # # # # #

Panic set in as Castle felt himself falling and couldn't move his arms to stop his out-of-control descent. A shrill noise that hurt his ears didn't help either. "Castle," a voice called from the distance, demanding his attention.

The lid was slowly being lowered onto the coffin he fell into, turning everything black, cutting off all access to the living world – he was being buried alive! "Castle," the voice called again insistently.

He struggled to push the lid back, to escape this madness, but his body wouldn't obey him, not even his voice as he tried to take in enough air to scream. "Rick!" the voice demanded. "Wake up!"

Castle jerked awake and saw Kate standing next to him, an odd expression on her hardened face. "Oh, shit, Kate – I'm so sorry – I was supposed to take you to the airport today and I forgot," he stammered. He tried to run a hand through his hair, like he did when he embarrassed or stalling for time, but found that his hands were strapped down to the bed he lay on. "What the-?" he said as he struggled, looking down at his body, growing more agitated the more he tried to get free but couldn't.

Kate reached out to him, stroking his face. "Rick," she said, keeping her calm voice and low. "It's okay – stop struggling. You'll just hurt yourself. It's okay," she repeated over and over again, like a mantra.

Her gentle ministrations started to calm the panicked writer and he glanced back up at her with fearful eyes as his struggles became less and less. "It's okay, Rick," Beckett continued. "You're okay. Just breathe slowly in and out," she said as she put her hand on his chest, emphasizing her breathing. "In," she took a deep breath, "and out," and repeated the sequence over and over until his breathing matched hers.

Castle closed his eyes as he focused on Kate's breathing. When he opened them again, he looked around the room, fear still in his eyes as he watched the doctors and nurses busily adjusting dials and looking at monitors.

"Kate, where the hell am I?"

# # # # # # # # # # #


	9. Chapter 9

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

FYI – There are more characters is this story than I can select.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle: Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. Just writing for fun.

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**This Is Castle We're Talking About – Chapter 9 **

Wide-eyed, Castle sat on the edge of the hospital bed, clutching the notebook to his chest in one hand and Kate's hand in another while he listened to Dr. Bresslier explain about ER4-SER and the side effects he was experiencing.

The words that the doctor rattled off were not comforting in the least, leaving him with more questions than answers. Except for the few seizures he had experienced, he was more healthy than not and he didn't fit any of the profiles of the original test subjects. Dr. Davidson had even given him a clean bill of health after a series of tests showed that this had not damaged his heart.

Castle had given more samples and had more tests in the last few days than he had his entire life and he was being to feel like a lab rat being stuck in an unsolvable maze, which did little to help his anxiety.

The doctors were just really shooting in the dark at this point. Should they give him more of the counter-agent, but that had its own set of risks. Or should they just take a wait-and-see stance in dealing with this? One thing was certain and that was his memory of those two days was forever gone and not coming back.

Castle stared at the door for a while after the doctor had left and then looked at Kate. She squeezed his hand, but she also had on her cop face and he knew that was bad.

"So no leads?" he asked quietly.

Beckett shook her head and tucked her hair behind her ear. "No, as far as we can tell, you didn't do anything Monday after you went to the warehouse and before the cameras show you entering the back door of the loft that night. No phone calls, no twitter feeds, no credit card receipts. You were supposed to meet with Gina and Paula, but you cancelled that at the last minute. It's like you fell off the face of the earth."

Castle stood and paced the room. "Kate, this is me we're talking about. I just don't not do anything – I've got this massive digital footprint. We have to be missing something," he said looking at the book where he had written everything. "Maybe if I see the pictures, listen to the recording?"

Beckett nodded. "That could help if you're up to it."

Castle stopped and looked at Kate, a scared expression on his face. "But what if—"

"You really did something stupid? Castle – Rick, I know you," said Beckett, standing and walking over to him. She placed her hand gently on his cheek and smiled reassuringly at him. "I've worked with you for the past 5 years. I think you actually care about the law now and I know you wouldn't do anything illegal. And if you did, I've got a gun."

Castle smirked at Beckett's attempt to relieve the pressure. "And handcuffs as I recall," he waggled an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah," said Beckett blushing slightly. "And I know how to use them."

Castle kissed her quickly. "You know they're always watching and listening," he breathed into her ear. "Better control yourself, Detective."

Beckett smiled seductively and turned away, pulling out her phone. She moved to the wall where she knew she would get good reception.

"Demming, it's Beckett. Can you bring the pictures and the recording to the hospital? Dr. Bresslier will meet you at the side door."

# # # # # # # # # # # #

Castle studied the pictures that Demming had placed in front of him. Yeah, the guy with the white hair and his assistant – he had run into them several times in the last week or so, but they were just quick meetings, nothing that would raise a red flag.

"This is the recording from the warehouse," Demming said as he put the mp3 player on the table and turned it on.

A European-accented voice could be heard over the noise of the airplanes taking off and landing. "…and let you know that the package arrived safely."

"So what package, Mr. Castle?" asked Demming. "You talked with him about 10 minutes at the warehouse before leaving."

The writer shook his head. "I have no clue." Castle thought back to their other brief meetings. "He didn't mention a package any other time. Just the weather – how he was a fan of my books. You've talked to him, right?"

Castle didn't miss the glance between Beckett and Demming. "You did talk to him and something happened."

Kate nodded. "Linderhoff said that you had a mutual friend who used his services in case you were interested. And after that, he changed his plane tickets to leave the country. He's flying to Morocco Saturday night."

"And you won't be able to touch him there." Castle ran a hand through his hair and then motioned at the MP3 player. "Is there any more of our conversation on there?"

"We weren't able to pull anything else off that was useful," said Demming.

"Do you mind if I listen to the whole thing?"

"No," said Demming as he handed Castle the player.

Castle took the small ear buds that Beckett had brought him to plug into his iPod out of the pocket of the robe and inserted them into the player. He then backed the recording up to the beginning, put the ear buds in his ears, and turned the player on.

The writer sat still, with his eyes closed, as he listened intently to the recording twice.

Castle finally opened his eyes and shook his head. "No, sorry, I didn't hear anything else that could help you."

"Well, it was worth a try," said Demming. "Kate, I've got to get back to the precinct. We're working some other leads, so maybe they'll turn up something." He nodded at Castle as he walked out of the room.

Castle sat wearily in the chair. "Sorry," he said.

"You tried – that's what matters," said Kate, walking over to him and holding him for a few minutes.

"Hmmm," hummed Castle. "This is nice. I've missed you."

"I've missed you to," said Kate, kissing him on the top of the head before releasing him.

"But you better get home – or Lanie's since our place is still off-limits – and get some rest. I don't think you've had much lately," Castle said.

"You don't want me to stay?" asked Kate.

Castle shook his head. "No – I'm so restless, I wouldn't be good company and you look tired. But can you swing by my mother's tonight and give them this?" He held out several sheets of paper to her. "They won't let me see or talk to them yet, and I wanted to let them to know I'm okay."

"Sure," Kate said as she took the sheets, smiling. "Can I bring you something tomorrow?"

"Nah – I've got a source for coffee now since they won't let me go to the coffee shop."

"Okay," said Kate, kissing him. "Have them call me if you change your mind. Good night, Castle."

"See you tomorrow," he said, returning her kiss.

Castle watched her walk out the door and then waited 15 minutes to make sure she was gone before pressing the buzzer.

"Can I help you?" said the nurse.

"Yes, I want to see Danberg immediately. I know what this is about and what I did Monday."

Kate was definitely going to kill him for this because he promised he'd never do it again without her, but he had heard something on the tape that had given him a clue as to what was going on, especially since she had told him that someone had gone through the loft, even putting his Casino Royale books back in his bookcase. This was his worst nightmare – Paris all over again, and as much as he wanted to tell her, he wouldn't do anything that would put her in harm's way.

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	10. Chapter 10

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

FYI – There are more characters is this story than I can select.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle: Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. Just writing for fun.

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**This Is Castle We're Talking About – Chapter 10 **

Danberg watched Castle pace animatedly around the room as the writer told him about Paris and his theory as to what had happened Monday and Tuesday, and laid out his plan to catch Linderhoff before he escaped and was unreachable. The problem that was that all of this was based on conjecture and not fact because Castle had no memories of what had actually happened.

However, given everything, it was a fairly logical conclusion – a well laid out story. After the Linchpin incident, the CIA agent had wondered why Castle's file was designated "eyes on" and had made some discreet inquiries. The findings really didn't surprise him with the level of access Castle had been given to the CIA for his research.

Now it seemed to be an albatross around the man's neck.

After he finished, Castle waited anxiously as Danberg mulled over his options.

"I think we can manage that," he finally said. "We'll have to bring in some more agents—"

Castle shook his head. "No, there's not enough time and the less people who know, the better. Kate said that Linderhoff was leaving tomorrow night. If you want to catch him, we have to do this now and make it believable. Can you get the equipment tonight?"

Danberg nodded again. "We should be able to. Do you know who you want on the team?"

Castle nodded. "Yeah, I do."

# # # # # # # # # # #

After a long day of meetings, Erik Vaughn was relaxing in the hotel lounge, checking out the scenery, when he noticed several men in dark suits stationed in various areas. He wasn't surprised when Danberg pulled out a chair and sat down at the table with him.

"Your country has a request of you," Danberg said.

# # # # # # # # # #

When the ringer went off, Demming first slapped the snooze button on his alarm clock and then reached for his phone. "Demming," he said, squinting at the time.

"Detective Demming, this is Agent Fallon," said the southern drawl. "We've had a break in the case and you need to come to the hospital immediately."

# # # # # # # # # #

Sorenson was already awake and running through his morning workout when his phone went off. "Sorenson," he said, wiping the sweat off of his face with a towel.

"Agent Sorenson, this is Agent Fallon," said the southern drawl. "We've had a break in the case and we need you to come to the hospital immediately."

# # # # # # # # # #

Davidson was going through his calendar for the day when he got a 911 page from the hospital. Castle had taken a turn for the worse and he needed to come in immediately.

# # # # # # # # # #

"You do know that impersonating a federal agent is a federal offense punishable up to 5 years in jail, Agent Fallon," Sorenson said as he watched Castle change into the scrubs that Davidson had finally agreed to get for him after Castle told them his plan.

It was fairly simple – break out of a high security facility, go to the New York public library because that's where Castle was certain he had gone after hearing Linderhoff's message, find out what he had been researching Monday, and take that back to the precinct. Something in that research must have caught Linderhoff's attention and had been the catalyst for everything that happened since then.

Demming and Sorenson reluctantly agreed to his plan because they didn't have anything better and they were definitely running out of time. Davidson agreed when Castle said he would take fully responsibility if they were caught.

"Not real worried about that right now," said Castle as he tucked his hair under a cap and hung a mask around his neck. "If this man is any threat to my family, I want him gone. And as it is right now, you don't have anything on him. I'm sure what I was doing Monday can change that."

"So you just plan on walking out of here with the shift change?" asked Demming.

"No," said Castle, looking at a badge he clipped to his shirt. "Dr. Hernandez is."

"Where'd you get that?" asked Davidson, startled.

"From the shredder box," Castle shrugged. "This place is more worried about people breaking in than out. Let's go over the plan again."

"You and I are stuck together at the hip – where you go, I go," said Demming, which was his condition to agreeing to this mad scheme. "We go to the library and see what you were working on Monday. At that point, you come back here and I'll take whatever we find to the precinct for analysis – nothing held back."

"And I'll back up Kate in case someone goes after her," said Sorenson. "And keep her away from the hospital for as long as I can."

"And if Kate shows up here before you're back, I'll stop her from finding out you're doing something stupid – again," said Davidson. "And then sign your death certificate when she kills you." He thought a moment. "Yeah, definitely death caused by cardiac arrest from ingesting toxic lead."

"Real funny," said Castle, picking up the notebook from the bed. He looked at the front of it and then looked away. "There's also another reason I wanted _**all**_ of you here," he said, taking a deep breath.

"Dr. Bresslier explained the side effects to me. If I'm one of the lucky ones, the seizures will stop after a few days and there won't be any more problems. If I'm not, they'll continue and I'll just think that Kate's away at a training. And then, I won't think about her at all, but that shouldn't last too long. If that happens, just make sure Kate – just make sure she's happy."

The rest of the men had the decency to look uncomfortable and nodded. "Yeah, okay," they replied.

Castle looked at the clock. "Shift change," he said. "Let's get this show started. We're leaving now."

He pulled the mask higher to cover part of his lower face and walked out the door, holding a chart and talking with Davidson as they passed the guards and swiped their badges. Davidson let out a sigh of relief as the elevator doors opened and he and Castle entered without any challenges.

A few minutes later, Sorenson and Demming walked out of the room. Sorenson swiped his badge and they also left the floor without any problems.

Castle had changed into street clothes and was waiting for them outside the side entrance.

Sorenson handed Castle a phone. "We're monitoring this phone, so keep in touch. Speed dial 1 when you find something."

"I will," said Castle, pocketing the phone. "The library opens at 10 am, but I've got someone who can let us now."

As they walked away, Sorenson pulled out his phone and called Beckett. "Hey, I've got some new leads – can you meet me at the precinct? Castle? I stopped by to talk to him this morning and they're running tests so he's going to be out of pocket most of the day."

# # # # # # # # # #

Danberg watched the blip on the monitor over Vaughn's shoulder.

"We're up and running," Vaughn said, adjusting a few settings on the tablet. "Sound quality good – GPS contact good – vitals good. I'm starting the recording now."

Danberg nodded and looked over at Candace.

She dialed a number on the burner phone. "Hi, this is Candace – I'm Mr. Castle's personal assistant. Mr. Linderhoff had mentioned wanting to meet with him while he was in town so that Mr. Castle could sign some of his books. I just wanted to let you know that Mr. Castle will be at the New York Public library about 11 am if Mr. Linderhoff would like to meet him there. Good – thanks, I'll let him know."

Candace ended the call. "Mr. Linderhoff is in a meeting right now, but his assistant will text him about the meeting. She was sure he would be most interested in meeting Mr. Castle."

# # # # # # # # # #

Even though the library was less than 4 miles from the hospital, it took Demming and Castle more than 30 minutes to get there in the morning traffic. That gave Castle time to go through the files that Demming had in his car, much to the detective's dismay.

"Castle, quit touching stuff," he admonished.

"Hey," said Castle, pulling some pictures out of an envelope. "You didn't show me these. I'm surprised you didn't take a video."

The writer looked at the time stamps and put the pictures in order and then read off the times and the contents. "9:05 – Linderhoff and I are talking at the warehouse; 9:15 – I drive off; 9:20 – Linderhoff leaves; 9:40 – Linderhoff's assistant and several other people get into a car and leave; 9:45 – I return, get out of my car – am I picking something up?" he said, turning the picture at various angles. "I can't really tell."

"Whatever it was, you put it in your pocket. It was too small to get clear shot of it. And FYI, between 9:15 and 9:45, you parked at the end of the complex and got out of your car and just stood, doing nothing."

Castle rolled his eyes – he really was doing something and that was watching Kate's plane to take off and wishing her god's speed and safe travel on her trip. The end of the complex was the best vantage point for that.

As Demming parked, Castle pulled out the phone and made a call. "Hey, Starla, it's Rick. Is it okay if I come in early? Thanks. I'll meet you at the back entrance in a minute."

Castle pocketed the phone. "We're in."

They quickly walked to the back entrance where a young lady was waiting for them.

"Hey, Rick – good to see you again," she said as she gave him a quick hug.

"Starla Torres, this is Detective Tom Demming. He's doing some research with me."

"Glad to meet you," said Starla, shaking Demming's hand.

"Uh, Starla, were you here Monday?" Castle asked as she led them down some long narrow hallways.

"No – it was my day off fortunately. I understand it was crazy because someone set off the fire alarm in the back Monday afternoon and the whole place had to evacuate."

"I'm surprised that didn't make the news," said Demming.

Starla laughed. "If we had a news crew out here every time that happened, that's all you'd hear."

"So it's a frequent occurrence?" asked Demming.

"Unfortunately, yes. We've installed cameras around the fire alarms to catch the people, but someone had put something in front of the one in the back Monday so we didn't get anything."

"Starla, is there any chance I left some research here Monday?" Castle asked as they reached the main room.

"Let me look and see if Krish put anything aside for you."

"Thanks, Starla."

Castle sat down in front of a computer and reached to turn it on. "Let see, if I was off grid Monday and didn't want my actions tracked, I wouldn't have used my personal library card. Uh, you got a library card, Demming?"

Demming snorted and reached past Castle to log into the computer using his library information. "Isn't this against the rules?"

"Not if you're trying to track a smuggler and not let them know you're doing it. Thanks," Castle said as he pulled up a browser. "Then I would have pulled up all the exhibits that Linderhoff had set up in the last year to see where he was. I would have ruled any out in the United States because we don't typically need to sneak people across state borders." Castle did a quick search. "And it looks like he did 6 internationally – Paris, London, Beirut, Dubai, Shanghai, and Minsk. The last 4 have possibilities…" Castle paused and frowned at the Paris one. That was the same time that he and Alexis had been in Paris when she was kidnapped last year.

Castle pulled up each article about the exhibits and read them slowly, occasionally glancing at the clock on the wall. He just had to stall until 11 am.

Starla walked back in the room, carrying a file. "Krish had this in the desk with a note that you'd pick it up Monday."

"Thanks – you are a lifesaver. Iced peach green tea with a shot of lemonade for you and double espresso with an extra shot of chocolate for Krish?"

"Of course. You spoil us too much, Rick," Starla laughed as she walked away.

Castle opened the file and leafed through the contents, groaning.

"Not what you expected?" Demming asked.

Castle shook his head. "No – just a list of events my book agent and publisher want me to go to."

"Oh, yeah," said Demming as he looked through the pictures. "They said you need to do more PR – you need to get your face back out there or else everyone will forget who you are and not buy your books anymore."

"Oh, hey, look – there's Erik Vaughn," said Castle, looking at one picture. "That would be the Winter Black and White Tie gala a year and a half ago."

"With a very nice piece of arm candy," commented Demming.

Castle gave the folder to Demming to add to his file. "Here, you can dress up as me and go to these."

He turned back to the monitor and continued reading. "There's nothing here that look unusual. That is, unless he's smuggling royalty into rival countries for clandestine meetings."

"Do you want copies of these?" Castle asked Demming.

"Of course, and I bet you don't have any money either."

Castle shook his head. "Don't even have my wallet."

"Don't go anywhere," Demming said as he walked off to find a vending machine for printing.

Starla walked back in the room, pushing a cart. "Hey, Rick – I found several magazines that Krish saved for you. They're behind the desk in a box if you want them. And watch the bottom drawer on the file cabinet. The edge is bent and can snag your pants if you're not careful."

"Thanks, Starla," said Castle as he stood and walked to the desk. Going behind the desk, he spotted the box next to the file cabinet and bent down to pick it up.

Demming came back into the room a minute later and glared at the empty chair. "Castle," he said in a loud stage whisper. "Where are you?"

"Over here," said Castle from behind the desk. "Just getting—"

There was a loud ripping sound as he stood and Castle swore as he looked down at the tear in his jeans.

"Told you so," came a loud voice from in the stacks.

"Oh, great," said Castle inspecting the rip. He glanced at the clock. "I dropped some pants off at a cleaners a couple of blocks away last week. We can go there and stop by the coffee shop and be back here before the library opens."

"Why not go back to the precinct now? Haven't we got what we're looking for?" Demming asked.

Castle shook his head. "No – I don't think so. I don't think we've found everything yet. I'm sure something will turn up."

Demming rolled his eyes. "All right," he said finally. "Cleaners – coffee shop – back here and then to the precinct." He was finding that herding Castle was a lot like herding cats and was beginning to feel a little sorry for Kate. But then, he always thought she would be a good mother and Castle definitely needed a firm hand.

# # # # # # # # # #

By the time they reached the cleaners, Demming was sure that Castle was either insane or directionally challenged. They had gone down several side streets and made several wrong turns before they reached their destination.

Fortunately, there was an open parking space across the street from the building and very little traffic to impede them as they crossed the street.

"Good morning, Mrs. Sun," said Castle as he walked in, smiling at the lady behind the counter.

"Ah, Mr. Castle – so good to see you so soon. And what have you done to your pants this time?" she tisked at him as she looked at the rip.

"Met with a filing cabinet that didn't like me," Castle quipped.

"You're too funny, Mr. Castle. Who wouldn't like you?"

Demming felt like raising his hand at that.

"I have the pants you left here Monday ready," Mrs. Sun continued. "But I don't think I can fix these."

"So I was here Monday?" Castle asked.

"Yes – large coffee stain on your khaki pants. Hard to get out, but we did." Mrs. Sun walked to the back and came back with a pair of pants. "You change and give me those – I'll see what can do."

"Thanks, Mrs. Sun," said Castle taking the pants.

Demming looked around. "Is there—"

"Through the door and to the left," said Mrs. Sun.

"Thanks. " He turned to Castle. "Stay here and don't leave."

"Okay," said Castle, looking defensive. It wasn't like he was going anywhere without him anyway, especially since he knew they were being followed and didn't know who it was.

Castle went into the changing room and quickly changed pants and then pulled out his phone, knowing that the conversation was going to be recorded.

He punched 1 and waited for a few minutes. "We're definitely being followed. Is it one of yours?" he asked when Sorenson answered.

"Not ours – do you need assistance?" Sorenson replied.

"No – they're just watching right now. We're headed back to the library. I'll call you when we find something," Castle replied.

He stepped out of the changing room and handed Mrs. Sun the jeans. "Thanks again."

"You've very welcome. Oh, you forget to clean out your pockets again, Mr. Castle – here," she said as she handed him a necklace in a small plastic bag.

Castle smiled as he took the necklace and looked at it. Had Kate given him something to remember her by while she was gone? His smile slowly faded as he looked at the necklace and recognized it. This must have been what he picked up at the airport, but that was impossible. Alexis said that they had buried this with Alyssa after the young woman had passed away unexpectedly.

His head snapped up as he remembered the conversation he had had with her uncle – Alyssa had been out the night before she died – the coroner's report listed the cause of death as a seizure.

And he made the connection because he had all the pieces now. When he and Alexis were at the embassy in Paris, he had stepped out of the room to collect himself and get coffee and had run smack dab into his worst nightmare – two distraught parents grieving the loss of their daughter. That could have so easily been him if things had gone differently. The daughter had also been out the night before and when the parents got up the next morning, they had found her dead from a seizure.

This had everything to do with Paris, but nothing to do with his father, and this was the piece of evidence that the people were looking for.

"Danberg," hissed Castle. "I was wrong – they aren't smuggling spies – they're human trafficking."

# # # # # # # # # # #


	11. Chapter 11

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

FYI – There are more characters in this story than I can select.

Rate T for language.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle: Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. Just writing for fun.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

**This Is Castle We're Talking About – Chapter 11**

# # # # # # # # # #

Ryan and Esposito's first stop that morning was to meet with Mrs. Holly Nguyen who lived one floor beneath Castle's loft.

They had already interviewed the rest of the tenants who had had received any packages or had any maintenance work done either Monday or Tuesday and everything had checked out so far.

Mrs. Nguyen was the last person on their list and had a package delivered to her condo Tuesday morning. She had been out of town so her personal assistant Reanna had signed for it.

"Thanks for meeting with us," Ryan said. "You said you received a package Tuesday morning?"

"Yes," said the petite Oriental woman. "Reanna signed for it Tuesday around 8 am."

"And what was in it?" asked Espo.

"A hanging statue – one of Michaele's new signature pieces. Unfortunately, it doesn't fit with my décor, so I'm donating it to charity."

"And where did you purchase this from?" asked Ryan, scribbling down notes.

"Oh, I didn't buy it – it was a thank you gift from one of the organizations that I work with," Mrs. Nguyen replied.

"Can we see the statue, ma'am?" asked Espo.

"It's on the table in the shipping box." Mrs. Nguyen pointed to the table.

"And you said this was delivered in a crate?" Ryan asked, looking at the medium-sized box.

"Yes, apparently Michaele had assembled it earlier and wanted it delivered that way. He was concerned that it wouldn't be put together right."

Ryan opened the box and slowly started taking the statue out. By the time he had pulled everything out of the box, there was a life-size metallic skeletal…thing lying on the table.

"You said this came in a crate?" asked Ryan as Espo took a picture of the statue on his phone. "Do you know what happened to the crate?"

"Reanna said that they had left it in the hall while they sat up the statue. I'm not sure what happened to it after that. Mr. Brewster may know."

"Thanks again for your cooperation, Mrs. Nguyen," said Ryan as they walked out of the condo.

They waited until they were in the elevator before snickering and making comments.

"That was art?" said Espo. "Looked like a mutated metallic skeleton to me."

"Yeah, can you imagine coming home and being greeted by that? It's enough to give a person nightmares," Ryan replied.

Mr. Brewster, the day manager at the building, told them where the crate might possibly be. It had been scheduled to be picked up by the trash men, but his son made furniture so his grandson had put it aside because he liked the wood.

It took them a little while to find the crate in the back storage room because of the tarp covering it.

"Wow – talk about overdoing it," said Espo as he took the tarp off of the crate. "I guess the artist was a little overprotective and didn't want anything to mess up…whatever that was."

"Yeah," said Ryan, thoughtfully, walking around the crate and studying it from various angles. "How many times do you think we'd have to fold Castle to get him in there?"

"You serious, bro?" said Esposito. "He's a big guy."

"Yeah and that statue doesn't take up much room in that crate – it's like buying a toy poodle a cage built for a German shepherd. Let's get CSU down here to take a look," said Ryan as he pulled out his phone.

# # # # # # # # # # #

Sorenson had already run through his "leads" with Beckett, who was discreetly checking her watch every few minutes while he was talking.

"You know, Will, you can handle this. I need to go to the hospital and check on Castle," she finally said. Beckett had known he was a little off when she had left the previous evening and wanted to make sure he was doing better.

"I'm sure Davidson will call you if there is anything," Sorenson said.

"Davidson?" asked Beckett, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear. "How do you know about Josh?

"Uh, he's the heart doctor on the case," Sorenson recovered quickly. "He was in the room with Castle when I stopped by there this morning. Said they'd be running tests on him all day."

"And why did you stop by?" Beckett asked, curious.

"Kate, are you interrogating me?" Sorenson mocked-frowned at her. "I stopped by to check with Castle on the new leads – see if anything made a connection with him, but they didn't. He can't remember anything about Monday or Tuesday, so we're back to square one on that front."

"And Linderhoff gets away with whatever he's being investigated for," Beckett said, looking at the white board. She pushed off from the desk. "I'll be back in a little while. Call me if anything comes up."

Sorenson nodded and watched her walk away. He should really warn Castle, he thought as he pulled the phone out of the case on his belt, and then thought better of it and put the phone back. He would not want to be in Castle's shoes now. He waited a few minutes and then got up to follow Beckett at a discreet distance.

# # # # # # # # # # # #

It was when Beckett was reaching forward to start the car that the voice came from the back seat of her cruiser.

"You're a hard woman to get alone," said the European-accented voice.

Beckett stopped and glanced in the rearview mirror, her hand sliding down towards her gun.

"I assure you that won't be necessary, Detective Beckett. I mean you no harm, but I find that privacy is of the utmost discretion in these matters," said Linderhoff. "When we spoke earlier, I only gave you part of the message that I gave Mr. Castle Monday at the warehouse. The complete message is 'We have a mutual acquaintance who is fond of James Bond, Casino Royale in particular. He wanted to let you know that the package was delivered safely.'."

Beckett stared at him.

"Now if you'll excuse me," said Linderhoff as he opened the back door. "I have several meetings at the Met today. And feel free to call me at any time, Detective. You'll never know when you need a friend."

Beckett's mind raced as Linderhoff walked away and got into a waiting town car. The library – Castle would have gone to the library – he wouldn't have been able to resist trying to find out where his father was. And what he found there had gotten him into trouble, but with who? She was starting to have her doubts about Linderhoff. If he was involved, why would he give her the message and give her a lead as to where Castle had been?

Kate turned on the lights of her car as she raced to the hospital and pulled up to the front door. She flashed her police badge at the valets and power-walked to the maintenance elevator, her heels noisily clacking on the floor.

"Castle," she said when she got to the room, slightly out of breath from rushing. "I know what you did on Monday – Castle? Rick?" she called.

She knocked on the closed bathroom door and then opened it after not getting a response. "Castle?"

Beckett walked back to the nurses' station. "Have you seen Richard Castle today?" she asked one of the nurses. "He's not in his room."

The nurse checked the chart. "Dr. Davidson is running some tests on him. I'm not sure when they'll be finished though."

"Thanks," said Kate as she headed back down to the first floor.

She was walking past the coffee shop when she heard a familiar laugh and saw Josh leaning against the counter, talking with several female co-workers.

"Josh?" Beckett said as she walked into the shop. "I thought you were doing tests on Castle today."

"Oh, Kate," he said, looking like a kid with his hand stuck in a cookie jar. "Uh – not me technically – my assistant is. I'm just going to study the results."

"And when is your assistant going to be finished?" Beckett asked, frowning.

"Sometime late this afternoon?" squirmed Davidson.

"Uh, huh," said Kate. "You know, Josh, you were never a good liar. Why don't you come down to the precinct with me so we can talk – my car is parked right out front."

"Really, Kate, it wasn't my idea," said the doctor, caving fairly quickly. "It's all Castle's fault."

"I don't doubt it," said Beckett steaming. She poked her finger in Davidson's chest. "When I find him, I'm going to kill him and then I'm going to kill anyone else involved in this."

"Well, that would be just about everybody," said Josh. "Including your buddy Sorenson over there." Josh pointed to where Sorenson stood at the news stand, hiding behind a magazine.

Kate quickly walked across the mezzanine and pulled the magazine out of Sorenson's hands.

"Precinct – now," was all she had to say as she stalked off with Josh in tow.

# # # # # # # #

Castle quickly glanced out the window to confirm that the yellow cab was still parked down the street. You would think they'd be a little more inconspicuous, he thought, but then again yellow cabs in New York were a dime a dozen.

"May I?" he asked, picking up a broken golden chain lying on the desk.

"Sure," shrugged Mrs. Sun, frowning curiously at him.

Castle took the necklace out of the plastic bag, carefully wrapped it in a handkerchief, and handed it to the woman before putting the other chain inside the bag. "Would you see that the man I came in with gets this? Tell him to give it to Alexis – she'll know what it means." This was the only piece of evidence they had and if this was what they had been looking for, it wasn't safe with him.

Castle pocketed the plastic bag and walked out the door and down the street away from the parked cab.

# # # # # # # # # #

Demming pounded on the bathroom door and yanked on the handle again but to no avail. "Hey, I'm stuck in here!" he yelled. "The door won't open."

He could hear several people outside, trying to push the door open, and they finally succeeded after a few minutes.

"Sorry – it's an old building and it shifts a lot," said Tai, Mrs. Sun's son. "I'll put the sign back up."

Demming walked to the front and looked around for Castle.

"Oh, he left a few minutes ago," said Mrs. Sun. "But he told me to give you this and take it to Alexis, his daughter. She'd know what to do with it."

The detective grabbed the handkerchief and quickly stuffed it into his pocket before running out onto the street. But he was too late – there was no sign of Castle anywhere.

# # # # # # # # # #

When Ryan and Esposito walked into the bullpen, they could hear Kate in the interrogation room, putting Sorenson and Davidson through the ringer.

"What's going on?" asked Espo, listening to Kate. "Castle hasn't done something stupid again, has he?"

"Well, this is Castle we're talking about," replied Ryan as he walked to the door of the interrogation room and knocked. "Hate to interrupt this love fest, but you got a minute?"

"What?" said Kate as she stormed out of the room, clearly angry.

"We don't think that's Castle going into his building Monday night and we think we found out how they got him back into the building on Tuesday without anyone seeing him," said Ryan.

After they walked into the conference room, Ryan pulled up the video from the building where Castle lived.

"See – here – it shows him going in the back door at 7 pm."

The video showed a tall man wearing a baseball hat going through the door.

"That's definitely his jacket and hat," said Ryan. "But look at the shoes – have you ever seen Castle in Crocs?"

He fast forwarded through the tape. "Here's Tuesday morning when the crate is being delivered by two people – no Crocs." There was a pause. "And then around 1 pm, right after Demming and his group pulled up out front, three people leave by the back door but without a crate. And there are the Crocs again." Ryan expanded the picture to focus on the shoes.

"Then how did 'they' get Castle back in the building?" asked Kate.

"In that crate," said Ryan, running the tape back to show the people first entering the building, pushing a large crate.

"This was what was in the crate," said Espo, pulling up a picture of the statue on his phone.

"Wow – that's a lot of extra room there," said Kate, clearly intrigued.

"Yeah – they must have just folded him up and stuffed him inside of it like a sandwich," said Ryan.

Espo frowned at Ryan and then pulled an evidence bag out of his pocket. "CSU is going over the crate for prints, but we've got something even better," he said, handing the bag to Beckett.

In it was a small piece of paper with the word 'Always' written on it.

"Looks like our boy was writing you love letters," he said.

Kate looked at the crate on the video and then the note and back at the crate, her forehead wrinkled in concentration. "Let's get Lenderhoff in here for questioning."

# # # # # # # # # # #

Demming's face was flushed when he walked into the homicide bull pen of the 12th precinct, partly from running and partly from exasperation by the folly of this – he should have known better than to get involved in any plan of Castle's even if they didn't have anything better.

"Your boy ditched me," he said angrily when he saw Ryan and Esposito.

"So you're in on this too, Tom?" asked Beckett coolly as she step out of the conference room.

"Yeah, and I knew it was a bad idea from the beginning," replied the detective defensively. "He heard something on the tape, so we broke Castle out of the hospital, and then he and I went to the library to see what he had done Monday. He was sure it was something he found there that started all of this." Demming slapped the file from the library down on the desk. "But all we got were articles on the exhibits and this folder of events that his reps want him to attend." Demming crossed his arms and waited.

"So where did you lose him?" Beckett asked as she went through the papers.

"The cleaners – he ripped his pants at the library and knew a place close by. He had stopped there Monday to drop off a pair because he split coffee on them. And he had left this in his pocket." Demming fished through his pocket for the handerkerchief and opened it to reveal the necklace.

Demming stared at it for a minute and then reached for one of the pictures in the file. "He picked something up while he was at the warehouse and put it in his pocket…"

Beckett took the handerkerchief from him and examined the delicate necklace. "Could this be what they were looking for?"

Demming shrugged. "The photo is too blurry, but he said his daughter would know what this is."

"Right," said Beckett as she pulled out her phone and speed dialed Alexis. "Hi, Alexis, it's Kate."

"Detective Beckett, how's dad this morning?" Alexis asked.

While he was inconveniently confined, Castle had insisted that his mother and daughter carry on with their lives, so Martha was at her acting studio and Alexis was back at school.

"He's so restless, he's got ants in his pants. Listen, your father picked up a necklace when he was at the airport and said you would know what it was."

"That's dad for you," laughed Alexis. "He's always buying things at gift shops. What did he get this time? Not a strand of fake monkey teeth again, I hope."

"No, it's not from the gift shop," said Kate. "We think he picked it up at the warehouse Monday. I'm sending you a picture now."

There was a long pause and then Alexis said, "Got it. Uh, Kate, are you sure this is what Dad picked up?"

"Pretty sure; we know he had left it in his pants pocket when he stopped by the cleaners Monday."

"But this is impossible," said Alexis. "Do you remember this last winter when one of our friends died in Mexico and Dad couldn't go because he was too sick?"

"Yeah," said Kate. Castle had worried her for several days because he was too sick from the flu to even whine that he had undoubtedly picked some horrible strain of the plague that he was certain to die from or be incapacitated for life.

"I went and I know that Alyssa was buried wearing this necklace. When we were little, her father made us intertwining necklaces – hers had the moon and mine had the sun. And I'm positive that's her necklace."

"Alexis, where is your necklace?" Beckett asked.

"In my dorm room," Alexis answered.

"Listen, Alexis, stay where you are. I'm sending a police unit over now. Then I want you to go back to your room and get the necklace. The unit will bring you here. Stay on the phone until the unit gets there, okay?"

"Okay," said Alexis. "Kate, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, it is," said Kate, not wanting to worry Alexis. "I'm going to let you talk to Ryan – he wants to regale you with stories of what baby Ryan is doing now. See you in a little while."

Kate passed Ryan the phone and then walked into the interrogation room. "So tell me how this plan went again?"

"Castle dressed in scrubs and used a badge he found in the shredder to leave the floor," said Josh. "We walked out with the 7 am shift change."

"Then I met him downstairs and we went to the library to see what he had done Monday. He has someone on the inside who could get him in early," said Demming.

"And he was still wearing scrubs?" asked Kate.

"No, he had changed before we got downstairs – jeans, shirt, and a jacket." Demming stopped suddenly and swore. "Damn, I thought that was too easy – so where did he get the clothes?"

"He had another accomplice," said Beckett, looking at each of the men. "And there's only one person missing from this room."

"Two actually and that would be us," said Danberg, standing at the door with Vaughn and Agent Fallon of Homeland Security. "We have a problem."

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	12. Chapter 12

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

**Author's Notes**: Sorry for the delay in updating. Real life keeps happening and I had a bit of a Castle funk after watching the last 3 episodes of season 5 and the deleted scene from Wastershed that almost made me want to stop watching Castle, but I'm over it now after watching the spoilers for season 6. (And yes, I watch and read spoilers, and read the last few pages of books to see if I want to invest my time. And I hate to admit it, but I did watch all Sharknado after I caught the last 5 minutes of it the other day and it was so bad that I laughed my head off and cheered for the sharks, and then immediately erased the recording because I'll never watch it again. They literally and figuratively jumped the shark on that movie.) But back to Castle, I have faith that the writers will get it back on track this year. If not, there's always fanfic – best invention ever now that we have the internet. And this story is spoiler-free because I would put the time frame at the end of season 6 and in my AU world of "The Call", Kate said "No" to the proposal, left for DC, and came back several weeks later and they became engaged at some point but are not married yet. And pardon my attempt at Spanish – it's not my native language and I'm still learning.

Rate T for language and violence.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle: Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. Just writing for fun.

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**This Is Castle We're Talking About – Chapter 12**

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"You, gentlemen, were the window dressing for the trap and Castle was the bait," Danberg said, motioning to Sorenson, Davidson, and Demming, now seated in the closed-off conference room around the table. "But we weren't completely honest with Mr. Castle about why we wanted Linderhoff."

"And why does that not surprise me," Beckett huffed, arms folded across her chest as she stood at the white board.

"Linderhoff has been on the Homeland Security watch list for some time as a possible link to smuggling people into and out of countries," Fallon said.

"Now, according to Castle, he has ventured into human trafficking."

"Why did Castle suspect that? Could the proof be the necklace?" asked Demming. He looked at Danberg. "I assume he called to tell you this before he did his disappearing act."

"Not exactly," said Danberg. "And that's where Mr. Vaughn comes in."

Vaughn tapped on the tablet in front of him and pulled up a program. "One of my companies is in the process of developing a communications and tracking device for the US government."

"And you trusted Castle with this?" asked Espo skeptically.

"More like implanted," said Vaughn. "It's inserted into the person's ear and then the sounds are transmitted to a computer where the input/output is recorded. Basically, you can hear what they hear and say. You can also talk to them via the computer's microphone. At first the device was working perfectly, but now there is some sort of interference. We're picking up some sound, but the GPS and sensors quit working about an hour and a half ago. Like I warned Mr. Danberg and Mr. Castle, it is a prototype and not without flaws."

Demming looked at his watch. "That would be about the time that I lost Castle."

"Did you get anything before the interference started? What about his last coordinates?" asked Beckett.

"Nothing of any real interest," said Danberg, shaking his head. "Just Castle talking about things – the photographs in Demming's car, what he found at the library and the camera at the library back door being out of service on Monday, PR events he doesn't want to go to, the route to the cleaners. The last thing he said was that Linderhoff was human trafficking. And his last coordinates are those of the laundry."

Beckett looked Demming. "Did anything happen at the cleaners, Tom?"

"No, but I stepped way for a minute right after we got there and when I got back, Castle was gone," said Demming. "The big excitement seemed to be the bathroom door getting stuck."

"Could someone have followed you?" asked Ryan.

Demming shook his head. "No, there's no way someone could have tailed us with the route we took. It would have been obvious."

"Except that you were followed," said Sorenson. "Castle spotted them outside the cleaners and called to ask if we had a tail on you but we didn't. That was just before his last communication, so whoever that was must have taken Castle."

Beckett nodded, considered everything that had been said, and finally decided on a plan of action. "Esposito, we'll need footage from this morning for any traffic and security cams around the cleaners – also the back door at the library last Monday – and get a CSU team over there to see if there are any usable fingerprints in that area. Ryan, go with Mr. Vaughn and listen to the recordings and see if Ellis can pull anything else from that app."

"Sure thing," Espo and Ryan said in unison, getting up from the table to leave.

"You three," Beckett said pointing to Fallon, Danberg, and Sorenson. "I want everything you've got on Linderhoff and his company ASAP. If you're watching him, he's not squeaky clean. I need some ammunition when he comes in."

The three men nodded and walked out of the room. Interagency cooperation didn't routinely happen, but they had hung Castle out there like the sacrificial lamb and it had gone wrong.

Vaughn frowned as he paused at the door. "What I don't understand is why Mr. Castle would have left the cleaners if someone was following him. Why not bring the necklace back here and let the authorities handle it?"

Beckett gave him a piercing stare. "Then you obviously don't know Richard Castle. He would do anything to protect people he considers family."

There was a knock on the door. "Detective Beckett," said Officer Trevino, opening the door slightly. "Alexis Castle is here and Linderhoff is on the way in."

The alarm on Davidson's watch went off and he glanced at it. "If you don't need me, I've got a surgery scheduled and need to get back to the hospital." He paused. "Kate, I'm sorry how this all went. Let me know if I can do anything."

"Thanks, Josh, that means a lot," said Beckett as she walked to the door. "Alexis, we're in here," she said, motioning to the young woman as Espo, Ryan, and Vaughn walked out of the room.

"Kate, what's going on?" Alexis asked in a worried voice. "Is Dad okay? Did something happen at the hospital – is he in trouble again?"

"Well, you know your dad," said Beckett. "Did you find your necklace?"

"Yes," said Alexis, pulling a small bag out of her purse and handing it to Kate.

Kate put on gloves and gently removed the necklace from the bag, carefully examining it. It was definitely a match to the necklace on the table. "Alexis, when did you get this?"

"Dad tells the story much better, but when he was about 10, Grams met her soul mate Pablo Sanchez Sr. from Mexico and you know how that always goes," said Alexis, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, after a magical summer, they went their separate ways because of work. Then when Dad was on a book tour in Mexico about 12 years ago, he ran into Pablo Sanchez Jr. and his brother Miguel, and they've kept in touch ever since. Alyssa was Uncle Miguel's daughter and she and I were the same age, so he made us matching necklaces – hers was the moon and mine was the sun."

"See," said Alexis. "They fit together to make one necklace and Uncle Miguel inscribed 'sol y luna - hermanas por siempre' on the back so we'd always be connected." Alexis frowned. "But how did Dad get this? I know Alyssa was wearing it at the viewing because I wore mine and the priest blessed them both during the mass. I'm sure no one took it off of her before they closed the casket."

"Your dad may have picked this up at the warehouse by the airport Monday morning after he dropped me off. Do you have Uncle Miguel's number?" Beckett asked. "We need to find out what happened to Alyssa's necklace."

"Sure, but maybe I should call Uncle Pablo instead. He made all the arrangements." Alexis pulled out her phone and tapped the screen and then put the phone on speaker.

It rang a few times before someone answered "Prisión de Ricardo Castillo."

"Hola, soy Pablo Sánchez en? Este es Alexis Castle," said Alexis.

"Sí, déjeme transferirlo."

Kate frowned and stage-whispered to Alexis, "Your father has a jail named after him in Mexico?"

"Yeah," Alexis whispered back. "He said he wanted to be comfortable when Uncle Pablo booked him and Uncle Miguel for drunk and disorderly. But he hasn't done that in quite a long time," she quickly added, trying to reassure Beckett that her father hadn't reverted to his old ways.

Alexis turned her attention back to the phone as Uncle Pablo answered. "Alexis, how are you and that bas – granuja of a father doing? I hope you're keeping him out of trouble."

"As much as I can, sir," smiled Alexis at his slip of the tongue. "Detective Kate Beckett of NYPD homicide is on the phone with me."

"Ah, the lovely Detective Beckett," said Pablo. "It's a pleasure to finally get to talk to you – Rick certainly has been keeping you to himself. You know, we seriously had our doubts that you existed since he hasn't brought you down yet to meet the family."

"Thanks," frowned Beckett, looking slightly puzzled. "Officer Sanchez–"

"No," he said charmingly, "just call me Pablo."

"Okay," replied Beckett, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear – was he hitting on her? If so, no wonder that Castle was keeping her away from them, not that she was interested. "I'm sorry to bring this up, but we need to know about Alyssa's necklace. Was she buried wearing it?"

Pablo was suddenly serious. "Alexis, you and your father didn't hear?" he asked. "We just found out about it a couple of weeks ago."

"No, what?" asked Alexis.

"There was another funeral at the same time as Alyssa's and the funeral home said that they had wheeled both caskets into the hallway and then put the wrong one into the hearse, so it was not Alyssa who was buried. The funeral home discovered the mix up when they were doing an audit and the numbers didn't match."

"What happened to Alyssa's casket?" Kate asked.

"Unfortunately that casket was marked for cremation because the young woman didn't have any family and the two women looked enough alike that the workers didn't notice," Pablo said sadly. "The funeral home sold her belongings on ebay before realizing their error. Why do you ask?"

"I have Alyssa's necklace," said Alexis. "Dad found it at the airport Monday."

"Are you sure it's not one of Miguel's other pieces? He's very popular," Pablo said.

"No," said Alexis, shaking her head. "Our inscription is on the back. I'm sure it's Alyssa's. I'll send you a picture."

There was a pause and then Pablo was back on the line. "Yes, that's definitely Alyssa's. But how did it get to the airport?"

"That's what we're trying to find out, sir," said Beckett, glancing up as Espo walked back into the conference room. "Excuse me a minute – I'll be right back."

"Ellis is going through the video feeds right now," Esposito said. "And CSU is at the library dusting the back door for prints – they should have something later this morning."

"Thanks," Beckett said. She picked up a file from the desk. "Esposito, can you and Alexis go through these articles that Castle was looking at – see what pops out?"

"Sure," said Alexis, taking the folder.

Kate motioned to Espo that they should leave the room and then turned back to the phone. "Sorry for the interruption. I know this may be difficult, but what was the official cause of death?"

"Dr. Deigo blamed it on alcohol poisoning and asphyxiation – Alyssa had been out drinking with friends the night before and had a 0.12 blood alcohol level," Pablo replied. "When they found her the next morning, my brother tried to resuscitate her but it was too late. Apparently she had a seizure and choked to death in her sleep."

Kate frowned, pushing her hair back behind her ear. Was that a link? But there was no possible way to run tests since the body had been cremated. "Sir, I'd like to speak to Dr. Deigo – how can I get in touch with her?"

"Unfortunately, she was killed by a shotgun blast to the face in a drive-by shooting about a month ago – they attributed it to a drug violence," Pablo said.

"What about the director of the funeral home?" Beckett asked.

"Senior Vasquez was so distraught from the mistakes uncovered by the audit that he closed the home and moved. Do you think these things are connected?" Pablo asked, concerned.

"Castle seems to think so," replied Beckett.

There was silence on the phone for a moment. "And since I'm talking to you instead of Rick, I assume he's done something stupid," Pablo said.

"Well, this is Castle we're talking about," answered Kate. "He's missing – someone kidnapped him after he found Alyssa's necklace this morning."

"So the answer is yes. Do Alexis and Martha know?" Pablo asked and then paused. "Alexis said he found it Monday. I'm assuming you haven't told me everything about this?"

"Castle did find it Monday morning and whoever this is apparently kidnapped him then also," Beckett explained. "They gave him a drug and left him at the loft so that it would look like he died from asphyxiation by choking on some food. But he was found and taken to the hospital. Then he left from the hospital this morning against medical advice to track these people down."

"That sounds just like Rick," said Pablo. "And as he says, there is no such thing as a coincidence. I'll rattle things on my end to see what I come up with."

"Good. We're on Alexis' phone right now and here's my direct line. Call me at any time." Beckett gave him her cell number. "Thanks for your help."

"Do me one favor though – when you find him, tell that cabron to quit doing stuff like this. I've got enough gray hairs already."

"I will," said Kate.

She hung up the phone and stared at the whiteboard. After Paris, he had promised not to do anything like this again without her. And she knew he would have only done this because he knew she could put the pieces together and solve this puzzle.

'There's always a story, always a chain of events that makes everything make sense,' he had told her when they first met.

She just had to find the same story that he had found – that same chain of events that made everything make sense.

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	13. Chapter 13

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

**Author's Notes**: Rate T for language and violence. [And this has nothing to do with the story, but all of you who work with computers will find this sort of funny. I got to work this morning and found out that our internet provider has reassigned all of our IP addresses to another company over the weekend, meaning no internet, no email for us. Wow – it was like being back in the stone ages. Hopefully we'll be back to normal soon – I'm having internet withdrawal.)

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle: Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. Just writing for fun.

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**This Is Castle We're Talking About – Chapter 13**

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"Yo, Beckett," called Espo as he and Alexis walked back into the conference room a half an hour later carrying a file. "I think we may have something."

"I was looking through the articles that Dad had pulled about the exhibits that Linderhoff Enterprises set up in the last two years," Alexis explained. "When Dad is researching, he'll read the entire paper that the article is in – he says it helps him be more authentic if he can put things in context. The library staff is very helpful in translating if an English version isn't available."

"It could be coincidence," continued Espo, "but five of the newspapers also had reports of a mysterious death of a young person attributed to an unexplained seizure or a seizure brought on by alcohol – sound familiar? This one," Espo pointed to an article written in Spanish, "is about Alyssa. We had these others translated."

Beckett quickly read the articles that Espo handed her. Like Alyssa, the people who died were young – their deaths very sudden and unexpected, and they families were prominent members in the community.

Fallon walked up to the group. "Linderhoff is in the interrogation room. This is your show, Detective. How do you want to handle this? Good cop – bad cop?"

Beckett thought for a moment. "Let's just get the truth," she replied, suddenly wishing she had more time to go through Castle's research and find that one link that had started Castle on this macabre trail and had led to the conclusion he made.

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Linderhoff looked up calmly and then stood as Beckett, Danberg, and Fallon walked into the interrogation room.

"Detective Beckett – we meet again." He nodded at Danberg and Fallon. "Gentlemen, how may I be of assistance?" he said, sitting back down.

"I have a few questions about your shipping business, Mr. Linderhoff," Beckett said as she sat down across from him and opened a file, glancing at a paper. "It seems to have been quite lucrative."

"Yes, I've been very fortunate in that regards," Linderhoff replied.

"But you've been hit by hard times the last few years," Beckett continued.

"Well, with the world economy the way it is, business isn't quite as good as it was. Museums have lost much of their grant money and are unable to afford the newer exhibits. Therefore, business is down," shrugged Linderhoff.

"So is that why you've expanded into human trafficking?" Beckett asked, looking at Linderhoff without blinking, not beating around the bush. Time was of the essence here if they were going to get Castle back alive.

"Excuse me?" asked Linderhoff, looking shocked by the question.

"You've been on the Homeland Security watch list as a person of interest for smuggling people into and out of countries for several years," Beckett said as she leaned forward. "It's an easy jump from smuggling to trafficking. And," she spread the articles in front of him, "it seems that where you set up exhibits, a young person from a prominent family dies unexpectedly. Maybe they caught the eye of a wealthy museum patron who came to you with their problem and you helped them for a price."

"By killing them?!" His face turning bright red, Linderhoff bristled and returned her stare. "I assure you, Detective Beckett, that I would do nothing that demeaning. And when I have smuggled people into and out of countries, it has been with the full approval and cooperation of the United States and most western governments. Now, if you'll excuse me, this interview is over," he said shortly.

Both Fallon's and Danberg's phones vibrated at the same time and Linderhoff cocked his head at them. They quickly answered and then Fallon leaned over and whispered something in Beckett's ear.

Furious, she looked down for a moment and pressed her lips together to compose herself. She then looked at Linderhoff again. "Let me assure you, Mr. Linderhoff," Beckett said quietly, "if I see one transgression, I will see to it that you are prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

"I don't doubt that, Detective. But, in my profession, I've learned to be very careful." Linderhoff stood. "If you excuse me," he said, "I have another meeting at the Met to finalize the shipment. I can find my way out."

Beckett watched Linderhoff walk out the door. "Tell me that you're following him and have him bugged," she hissed at Fallon.

Fallon nodded slightly. "But nothing suspicious so far," he added.

Walking out of the interrogation room, Beckett saw Alexis standing by the break room door, a stricken expression on the young woman's face. She quickly walked over to her and put a hand on her arm, but stopped herself from placating the young woman by saying that they would find Castle as she remembered what he had told her when Alexis had been kidnapped "Alexis, we're doing everything we can."

The red-head looked down and nodded slowly. "I know, but it's just like Paris and last year all over again. I should probably calls Grams and let her know what's going on."

"No, Alexis, I will," said Kate. "You've been a big help."

"I just wish I could do more," Alexis said morosely.

"Then come help me think before I call Martha," Beckett said.

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Having run out of room on the whiteboard, Beckett and Alexis taped all of Castle's research from the library in chronological order on one wall of the conference room – the newspaper articles about the exhibits, the articles about the deaths, the pictures from the past events that Gina and Paula wanted Rick to consider attending.

She winced when she ran across the one of Vaughn at a fund raiser with an exotic beauty on his arm. Even though she balked over the circumstances at the time, she had been secretly flattered when the billionaire had asked specifically for her as a body guard and had let that flattery go to her head a little. She could have easily been that woman in the picture but it would be a pale comparison to what she had now.

Thoughts crossed her mind as she stared at the wall. "I think the message from Linderhoff about your grandfather started all of this," Beckett said as she touched the message she had written down on the piece of paper.

"Yeah," said Alexis. "Dad would have been curious to see if he could find out where he had been."

"But then, he starts looking into where Linderhoff has been and notices a disturbing pattern. But he wouldn't have known that Alyssa's necklace had been sold." Beckett frowned. "What if your father was basing his conclusion on that along?"

Alexis shook her head. "No, it had to be something else – some piece we're still missing."

Beckett nodded. Castle had stumbled across something that was incentive enough for someone to try to kill him earlier this week and kidnap him today. But what? The first article was related to an exhibit in Paris and around the time that Alexis had been kidnapped and Castle had gone there to find her. When they returned, Castle finally told her that as bad as it had been, it could have been worse.

"Alexis," she said. "When your dad told us about Paris, did he leave anything out?"

Slightly startled, the young woman looked around and then shook her head. "No," she said quietly. "He told you everything, even…"

Beckett nodded. "I know, I just had to ask though." She thought a moment. "What about afterwards when you were at the embassy?"

Alexis shook her head. "We stayed in one room and only spoke to Mr. Aldacott and Julie Poole, who was a member of the embassy staff. Although when I fell asleep, I think Dad went to get some coffee." She paused and said softly. "When I woke up, I could tell that he'd been crying. He tried to blow it off though – said he had gotten something in his eye."

Kate nodded. Castle could be such a big softy at times, but then she had also seen the darker side of him then when they both found out what he was capable of.

"Let's start there then." She touched the speaker phone in the room. "Chris, get me the US embassy in Paris. I need to talk to a Julie Poole – she should be on staff there. Thanks," Beckett said. There was a slight pause and then Chris was back on the line. "Detective, I have Ms. Poole on the line."

"Ms. Poole, this is Detective Beckett of the NYPD," Kate said. "Do you have a few minutes to talk? I need to ask you about Richard Castle and his daughter Alexis who were at the embassy about 2 years ago."

"Yes, I remember them," said Julie. "I hope everything is all right. Mr. Castle called Monday afternoon and I haven't had a chance to return his call."

"Julie, I'm on speaker phone and Alexis Castle is in the room with me. What time did Mr. Castle call and did he say what he wanted?"

"Yes, he left a voice mail—" there was a pause –"around 3 pm New York time. He asked if I knew how to get ahold of Damion Scott."

"Did he say why?" Beckett asked.

"No, but I assume it had something to do with the other couple who was here at the same time. That was a wild week at the embassy – first Mr. Castle's daughter being kidnapped and rescued, and then Simone Brennan was working a 6-month internship at the Louvre and her parents came over from the US to visit, but she died the night before they arrived. Damion was the rep assigned to their case."

"Do you know how Castle met Damion?"

"When Alexis was asleep, Mr. Castle stepped out to get some coffee. He was gone for quite a while and I finally had to send a guard to make sure he didn't get lost. Damion said he was talking to the Brennans. They were meeting with officials to try to get their daughter's body back to the US for burial and Mr. Castle offered to pay for the shipment, but the problem was that body had been cremated by mistake. They were at the embassy lodging a complaint against the funeral home that handled the arrangements."

Alexis frowned when she heard the names. "Dad had an article about a Mr. and Mrs. Brennan," she said as she ran her hand along the wall until she found it. "There – they died in a car wreck about a year ago while they were in Canada."

"Julie, how can I get in touch with Damion?" Beckett asked. This was one too many coincidences.

"You can't – he died when he was scuba diving in Dubai last November," Julie answered. "They said he was attacked by a shark. They found the tanks where the straps had been bitten, but they never found his body."

Alexis looked at the board, her eyes wide. "Dad's got that article too," she whispered.

"Julie, do you have the name of the funeral home that made the arrangements for Simone? Also the coroner who examined the body?" Beckett asked.

"Shortly after that happened, the government shut down the funeral home because of numerous complaints. Damion said that the coroner who examined the body was there with the couple at the embassy and she was so mad she quit in protest about what she considered shoddy procedures. I believe her name is Dr. Claire Dimont."

"Can you can send us a picture of her and any contact information?" Beckett asked.

"The police should still have it on file," said Julie. "Is there an email address I can send it to?"

"Yes," said Beckett as she gave Julie her email address. "Thanks for your help on this, Ms. Poole. We really appreciate it," she said as she ended the call.

As much as he denied it, Linderhoff was connected in some way. He had set up an exhibit at the Museo Nacional de Arte in Mexico City when Alyssa had died, and again at the Louvre when Simone Brennan had died. He had been in Dubai when Damion Scott had been killed and in Nova Scotia when the Brennans had been killed. She also added the pages for London, Shanghai, and Minsk where young people had died while he was setting up exhibits there.

What was certain was that she needed to talk to him again.

Beckett looked up as Espo knocked on the door. "Need any help?"

"Yeah, you and Alexis keep working this angle. I need to talk with Linderhoff again."

"I thought Danberg said he was off limits," Espo whispered.

"When has that stopped me before? Just run interference while I'm gone," she said, nodding towards where Fallon and Danberg were working.

"Got your back," said Espo.

Beckett quickly walked out of the bull pen, going down the stairs rather than taking the elevator to avoid the watchful eyes of Danberg and Fallon.

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Beckett was pulling her keys out of her pocket when she noticed Linderhoff talking on his phone next to a black town car and then quickly walked over to him.

"Mr. Linderhoff, I have a few more questions," she said.

"Detective Beckett, was I not clear – this interview is over," Linderhoff said, pocketing his phone. "I will take your badge for this – is it worth it?"

Beckett didn't hesitate – this was Castle we are talking about after all. "Yes," she said firmly. "Rick Castle's life is definitely worth more than my badge."

Linderhoff frowned. "What has Richard got to do with this? Is this about his accident?"

"It wasn't an accident. You met him Monday morning and when he figured out what you were doing, you tried to kill him. But that failed, so you kidnapped him this morning to finish the job," Beckett said.

"I assure you, Detective, if anything happened to Richard, it wasn't me. You aren't successful in my line of business without making a few friends and also owing a few favors if you know what I mean." Linderhoff looked around and pointed to a coffee shop. "Shall we sit down and discuss this?"

"All right," said Beckett nodding.

Linderhoff turned to the driver waiting in the car. "Charles, please drop the papers off at the museum. I'll call you when I'm ready to be picked up."

"Yes, sir," said the driver and then drove off as Beckett and Linderhoff walked to the coffee shop.

"This is better," said Linderhoff, sitting at a table towards the back of the shop and wiping his brow with a napkin. "As I get older, I find the heat more oppressing. I was hoping that New York would be cooler this time of the year but no. Now, Detective, as I said earlier, when I have smuggled people into and out of countries, it has been with the full approval and cooperation of the United States and most western governments – the people, sometimes not so much. So why do you think I'm in the business of human trafficking?"

"That's what Castle found after you gave him the message Monday. He had gone to the library and was looking into the places where you had set up exhibits. And he found that where you had been, young people had died under mysterious circumstances."

"Ah, it was suggested he might do that to try to find a certain individual," Linderhoff said, nodding. "I can see where he gets it. But how am I connected to the deaths of young people and what happened to Richard?"

"Someone kidnapped Castle at some point Monday afternoon. We have security footage of him returning to the building around 7 pm that night, but we think that wasn't him actually. We think whoever it was smuggled him into the building in a crate that housed a sculpture by Michaele the next morning and Linderhoff Enterprises is the only company that handles that sculptor."

"Those hideous things," scoffed Linderhoff. "Believe me, Detective, if I had a say in this, we wouldn't be displaying that modern-art garbage at all."

"Why wouldn't you?" asked Beckett. "Isn't it your company?"

"No – I sold it about 2 and a half years ago and then my wife had decided she wanted to add a new wing on our chalet in Switzerland," said Linderhoff. "So I stayed on as a consultant while they built their reputation. But my contract with them ends as soon as I finish this last job with the Met and then I'll fly back home."

"So you're not flying to Morocco tomorrow?" asked Beckett.

Linderhoff frowned. "Goodness no. As I said, I don't tolerate the heat very well. And with my pale skin, I'd look like a steamed lobster. I'll fly to Switzerland Sunday evening."

"I'll need a list of the new owners," said Beckett. "It'll be easier to do this at the precinct."

"Of course, Detective," said Linderhoff.

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As they waited to walk across the street, a fire truck and ambulance roared past them with their lights flashing and sirens blaring.

Beckett was surprised to see Espo and Ryan walk out of the precinct and head down the street towards the commotion a couple of blocks away.

"Hey, Beckett," Ryan waved when he spotted her and then waited for her to catch up. "Got a body," he said, motioning down the street. "Some poor sucker in a town car was t-boned by a cement truck about 15 minutes ago about 2 blocks from here. Luckily there wasn't anyone else in the car."

"Mr. Linderhoff, please go with Detective Esposito and give him a list of the new owners. And then stay there. Ryan, you're with me."

Espo and Linderhoff went back into the precinct while Beckett and Ryan did a fast walk to the accident site.

Just as Beckett feared, the town car had been the one that Linderhoff had used. The cement truck had slammed into the car so hard that it had almost been cut in two by the impact; a blank covered the caved in driver's side; and firemen were hosing down the spilled fuel.

"What happened?" Beckett asked the lead officer.

"The driver said his brakes failed and he couldn't stop in time," the officer said, motioning over to where a man sat in the back of an ambulance where an EMT was putting a band aid on his forehead.

"Beckett," said Ryan, looking over at the driver. "Those black crocs look very familiar."

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	14. Chapter 14

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

**Author's Notes**: Rate T for language and violence. Also I'm taking artistic liberties with how fast the investigation is going. In the real world, it doesn't happen this fast. And sorry, I had to repost Chapter 12 because Dr. Diego actually died a month ago, not a year ago. Whoops – my brain was ahead of what my fingers were typing.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle: Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. Just writing for fun.

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**This Is Castle We're Talking About – Chapter 14**

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By the time Beckett and Ryan arrived back at the precinct, pictures of Dr. Claire Dimont and Dr.  
Carmelina Diego were already taped to the board, along with a list of the names of the owners of Linderhoff Enterprises that Linderhoff had given them.

Surprised by the news that Linderhoff had sold his company, Danberg and Fallon were running checks on the current owners, but so far, nothing of interest had popped.

Beckett stared at the board while she waited for the driver of the cement truck to be brought in for questioning after his visit to the ER to be checked out.

"Coffee?" said Ryan as he held out a cup.

Beckett took it and smiled slightly before pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. That was Castle's job – bringing her coffee.

"Hey, we'll get him back," said Ryan with quiet conviction. "Castle wouldn't have done what he did if he didn't know without a doubt that we could."

"Yeah, but what did he see that we're not seeing?" Beckett frowned, her forehead wrinkling in concentration.

"Just got the CSU report back from the library," said Espo, walking into the room with several sheets of paper in his hand. "You're right – Castle's fingerprints are all over the fire alarm at the back door of the library. We didn't get a clear shot of who covered the camera though – all we can tell is that it was blocked at 2:50 pm."

"That would be about 10 minutes before Castle made his call and then 5 minutes later the fire alarm was pulled," said Beckett, looking at the time line.

"And Ellis has something to show you in the tech lab," Espo said quietly, glancing at his partner.

Ryan took the hint. "I'll stay here and keep Alexis company," he said.

"Okay," said Beckett. She looked over at Alexis' hopeful face. "I'll be right back."

When Beckett and Espo got to the tech lab, Ellis and Vaughn were looking at a monitor, engrossed in a discussion and pointing at various patterns on the monitor.

"You found something?" Beckett said as she walked in.

"Yes," said Ellis. "This is the feed we're getting from the communications device implanted in Castle's ear."

The displayed showed sinusoidal plane waves as they rose and fell.

"Static," Vaughn said grimly, nodding his head slightly. "We had problems with that in the earlier models."

"If I may offer another suggestion," said Ellis. "This pattern indicates that there is some interference but the device is working. This is Castle we're talking about, so if these are the same people who kidnapped him Monday, they've probably done the one thing that most of us in this room have wanted to do at one time or another—"

"Tazered him?" cut in Espo.

"No – taped his mouth shut," said Ellis, shooting him a look.

"Oh," said Vaughn, taken aback. That was one scenario they had not even considered.

"And I found this earlier in the recording after the static started," said Ellis as she moved controls and brought up another sound stream with a hum that faded in and out in a seemingly random pattern. "It's Morse code, more specifically the word 'airport' repeated over and over. And if you watch the static," she said as she moved some controls to change the graphic on the monitor to better emphasize what was happening, "it's not a random – almost like a pattern that could be from a radar at an airport."

"How can you tell that?" asked Beckett.

"Four years in the Navy, ma'am," replied Ellis. "I was a communications specialist on board ship. When Castle found out, he drove me crazy leaving me messages in Morse code."

"So you think they've taken him to the airport?" Beckett asked.

"Yes, ma'am. But"—Ellis brought the pattern that had shown the Morse code back up, "this signal faded about half an hour ago and I haven't heard it again."

"Thanks – good work," nodded Beckett. "Let me know if you find anything else." Her phone buzzed and she quickly answered it. "The truck driver is here," she said to Ryan.

Vaughn glanced at Beckett as she walked and Ryan out of the room and then smiled back at Ellis. "You know, you have a talent with technology. Have you ever thought about moving into the private sector? You could make quite a bit more money."

Ellis looked at him and then back at the monitor. "Thanks, but no thanks. I've heard about your incentive package, Mr. Vaughn, and I'm just fine where I am."

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From the observation room, Beckett watched the man fidget at the table in the interrogation room. She realized that the longer she made him wait, the more he fidgeted, the more he was uncomfortable in his surroundings as it should be.

Linderhoff had already identified him as one of the drivers that the current owners had hired to transport the exhibits to and from the museum. So what was he doing driving a cement truck?

She had also noticed the similarities between Castle and him when the uniforms had walked him into the room. The man was about the same height and build, with similar hair – from the back, you could almost believe it was Castle standing there.

When she decided he was ready to give up information, she walked into the room.

"Mr. Arkin, you've been brought in for questioning about the accident that claimed the life of Charles Allen Gantz this afternoon."

"Yeah, damn shame," the man replied in a heavy Brooklyn accent. "I tried to stop but..." he shook his head.

"Looking at the impact, you must have been going pretty fast. In fact, there weren't any skid marks."

Arkin shook his head. "That's what I get for believing them saying the truck was in good working condition." The driver ran a hand down his face. "Yeah, I was going over the speed limit 'cus of the light traffic. Then the light turned red and I tried to stop, and the brakes wouldn't work. So I laid on the horn, but the poor guy didn't stand a chance. Just glad there wasn't anyone else in the car."

"And you work for Abacus Concrete?" Beckett asked.

"Nah, I'm just a contract driver – I pick up work where I can. I have a valid commercial license," he said, fishing in his pocket to pull out his wallet with his license in it.

"And I understand you're also working for Linderhoff Enterprises this week," Beckett said.

"Yeah, one of their regular drivers was sick so I filled in for him, but that ended at 1 pm today, which is why I took the job driving the truck."

"What were you delivering for Linderhoff Enterprises?"

"Uh, mostly big crates," Arkin said, confused slightly. "The rep from the company always rode with me and had the waybill. They were moving stuff for the MET."

"So where did you pick up the crates and take them?"

"Mostly between LaGuardia and the Met. We'd pick up crates at the airport and drop them off at the Met. Then we'd load crates at the Met and drop them back at the airport. I dropped off the last shipment off at the Met just before 1 pm. Then my cousin called with this job. I got alimony and child support to pay, so I can't afford to turn nothing down. Now I wish I hadn't taken it."

"We need to verify that. What's your cousin's name? And how can we contact Linderhoff Enterprises?" Beckett asked.

"Tony Braggitori's my cousin. He's out on a job right now but you can reach him by cell phone at 201-555-4321. And here's the number that Mrs. Sue Parker at Linderhoff gave me in case I needed to contact her." He pulled a business card out of his wallet.

Beckett watched him in silence for a moment. "Would you mind standing up?" she asked.

"Okay," said the driver as he stood, a confused look on his face.

"So you're about 6'2" tall," Beckett said.

"Yeah," Arkin replied.

"And you always wear black Crocs?"

"Got a foot condition which isn't good in my line of work. My foot doctor recommends I wear them."

"So where were you last Monday night?" Beckett asked.

"What's this got to do with the crash?" the man asked defensively.

"I'm just wondering if you did any other jobs for Linderhoff."

"Yeah, I drove for them the whole week."

"Including Monday night through Tuesday morning?" Beckett asked.

"Yeah – Monday night," Arkin nodded. "Mrs. Parker said she needed something dropped off at her place at 425 Broome Street. She told me to park in the garage and go through the back entrance. She gave me her key fob."

"Then this would be you?" Beckett asked as she pulled a picture out of file and placed it on the table.

"Yeah – that's me," Arkin said looking at it.

"Nice hat," commented Beckett.

"If you like the Yankees," Arkin shrugged. "I'm more of a Bears fan."

"So where did you get the hat?" Beckett questioned.

"One of the perks of the job," replied Arkin. "They gave them to all the drivers."

"And the jacket?"

"That too – and the shirt and the jeans. They said it was their company uniform and they wanted all the drivers to look alike – hat, jacket, dark dress shirt, good jeans."

"So what did you do when you got there?"

"Uh, I went up to the apartment. Mrs. Parker said just to let myself in and put the package on the counter, so I did."

"Was there anyone home?" Beckett asked.

"Not that I could tell – everything was dark."

"How were you going to get her keys back to her?" Beckett continued.

"She said she had too much work to do and wasn't going to be home Monday night so I could just give them to her Tuesday morning when I saw her."

"And what did you do after that?"

"Uh, hmmm," Arkin thought for a moment. "I'm sure I went home but it's kinda fuzzy. I had just pulled 2 16-hour shifts for the company and we started at 4 am Monday morning."

"Isn't that a little excessive?" Beckett asked.

"They were in a hurry and paid what I'd normally make in 2 week for just those 2 shifts. But what's this got to do with the crash? We weren't that busy yesterday and I got a good night's sleep last night so it wasn't driver fatigue."

"We're investigating Linderhoff for improprieties," said Beckett.

"Damn," Arkin swore. "I knew it was too good to be true especially when they paid me in cash." He immediately glanced around guilty.

"We're not interested in that part," Beckett reassured him. "What if I told you that the apartment you went to Monday night belongs to Richard Castle?"

"The mystery writer?" Arkin asked.

Beckett nodded.

"Well, then I'd have punched the sob out if he'd been home," Arkin replied testily.

"Excuse me?" Beckett asked.

"Yeah – he's the reason I'm divorced. My wife was reading those Heat books and always riding me, saying, 'You look like Rook – why can't you be more like him?' and then I come back with 'Well, that Nikki is one hot babe – why can't you be more like her?' and next thing I know I'm kicked out to the curb, living in a 1-room shack, and being served divorce papers. So yeah, I'd have punched his lights out."

"Okay," said Beckett as she nodded, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear and pausing. "Linderhoff Enterprises hired 2 other drivers for the job. Did you ever see them?"

"Yeah, at the orientation meeting Sunday. We thought it was strange we all looked alike, but Mrs. Parker must like 'em tall and handsome," Arkin shrugged with a smile.

"So how did Mrs. Parker contact you about the job?" Beckett asked.

"She said I was referred by a client I had worked for. They liked the way I drove – fast and no tickets," Arkin replied. "And they had a lot of work to do in a short amount of time."

Beckett was about to ask another question when she was interrupted by a knock on the door and Danberg leaned in.

"Can I see you for a minute?" he asked.

"Sure," said Beckett. "If you'll wait here, Mr. Arkin. I'll be back in a minute." She picked up the file off of the table and walked out the door.

"We got another hit on ER4-SER," said Danberg. "The ER did blood tests on Mr. Arkin and they came back with trace amounts of the drug present."

"Someone wanted his memory wiped?" Beckett asked.

"Yes and no," said Danberg. "In small dosages, people become easy suggestible – you can get them to do something and then tell them they've done something else and most of the time they'll believe you. It's only in the higher dosages that the memory is actually erased."

"So he may have actually stayed at Castle's loft all Monday night, but thought he was home sleeping," said Beckett, thinking out loud. "And then he may have finished the job this morning and they gave him another dose and put him in the cement truck to take out Linderhoff."

"And none of that can be used in a public court since we're dealing with a drug that doesn't exist on record," said Danberg.

"So our only hope in catching these people is finding Castle," Beckett said.

Danberg nodded in response. "And you need to do it pretty quickly. The only thing that came up for the three owners is all of them have booked tickets this weekend to fly to Morocco. Mr. Robert and Pamela Greyers leave tomorrow from California and Sue Parker leaves tonight from JFK at 7. We don't have anything concrete to pick her up on yet."

"Then we need to move now," said Beckett. "Is Linderhoff still here?"

"Yes, he's going over the company bank statements with Ryan."

Beckett and Danberg walked into the bullpen. "Let's hold Arkin for a while. Ryan, did you find anything?" Beckett asked.

"No, everything looks solid. If they are hiding money, it's not in the company," Ryan answered.

Beckett turned to Linderhoff. "Mr. Linderhoff, were shipments dropped off at just LaGuardia this week, or both LaGuardia and JFK?"

"Both – they have shipments going to LA and also to China tonight," Linderhoff replied.

"Then we'll need search warrants for both cargo areas," Beckett said, pulling out her phone. "Judge Markway would be the best one to go through."

She only hoped that since this involved Castle, the judge would be amenable to signing the warrants quickly.

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A short time later, warrant in hand, Beckett and her team headed to JFK, while Danberg, Fallon, and Demming headed toward LaGuardia, a similar warrant in hand.

Because of what Ellis has said, Beckett had taken the precaution of having an EMT meet them at the airport for when they found Castle. She was surprised though to find Josh waiting with the EMT at the cargo terminal at JFK.

"Josh, what are you doing here?" she asked.

The doctor shrugged. "I agreed to stupid plan, so at the least, I should be here in case I have to save Castle's ass."

"Detective Beckett," said a man in a uniform walking up to her. "I'm Officer Huang. They called and said you'd be coming."

"Yes," said Beckett, handing him the warrant. "We have a warrant to search the cargo area. Specifically, we're looking for containers that look like this." She handed him a picture of the crate that had housed the statue and quite probably Castle.

"Well, you've come to the right place then," Huang said as they walked through the warehouse. "A group of these are slated to go out later tonight and then another group tomorrow morning."

When they reached the area housing the crates, all the team could do was stare.

"Whoa – there must be 500 crates in here," said Espo.

"526 to be exact. I've got the xrays if you want to check them."

"Did you find anything unusual?" Beckett asked.

Huang thought for a moment and then shook his head. "No, the contents match the waybills."

"What about metallic statues?" Ryan asked suddenly. "Are any of those being shipped?"

"Yes," said Huang, checking his list. "There are 112. Those are the crates marked with the blue tag by that wall."

Beckett looked at her watch. "The plane leaves in an hour. That doesn't give us much time."

"Got a crow bar?" asked Espo. "I bet I could pop all the lids in about 30 minutes."

"I've got something better," said Ryan, pulling a small tablet out of his jacket pocket. "Vaughn loaded the software on here before we left."

"What good is that going to do?" asked Espo. "He said there was interference."

"Yeah, there is, but when I was listening to the recordings, I heard a loud squeal in the beginning. Vaughn said that Castle had gotten too close to the tablet and was getting feedback."

Espo nodded. "So when we hear the squeal, we've found Castle."

Ryan nodded and started walking through the crates, slowly waving the tablet around. When he reached the end of the row, he turned back to Beckett and shrugged. "Nothing," he called.

Beckett ran a hand through the crown of her hair. "Where are the rest of the crates that Linderhoff Enterprises is shipping?"

"Back there." Huang motioned, indicating the direction they should go.

Ryan carefully walked through the crates, holding the tablet close to each one. He finally shook his head at Beckett. "Not here either."

Beckett pulled out her phone and called Danberg. "We've got nothing here. Have you found anything?"

"No, nothing," Danberg replied.

"All right," said Beckett. "Let's get back to the precinct and see what we missed."

She turned to Huang. "Thank you for your cooperation."

"Sure – no problem. But, you know, if you're looking for crates, maintenance just took a bunch that they didn't use to be crushed."

"Did you x-ray any of them?" Beckett asked, alarmed.

"No, we only do that to the ones that contain cargo. They said these didn't have anything in them."

"Where's the crusher?"

"The next building over."

"Call them and have them stop immediately," Beckett called out as Ryan, Espo and she began running.

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	15. Chapter 15

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

**Author's Notes**: Rate T for language and violence. Also I'm taking artistic liberties with how fast the investigation is going because, in the real world, it doesn't happen this fast. And sorry, I had to repost Chapter 12 because Dr. Diego actually died a month ago, not a year ago. Whoops – my brain was thinking ahead of what my fingers were typing.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle: Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. Just writing for fun. 1 week to go!

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**This Is Castle We're Talking About – Chapter 15**

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"We stopped as soon as Huang called, but a couple have already gone through," said lead foreman Munser who met them at the door of the building. He led them to the back of the warehouse. "That's the crusher," he said, pointing to a black hole in the floor that was chained off on 3 sides. Several crates were still visible at the top.

Ryan quickly ran the monitor along the crates that could be seen and then shook his head. "Nothing. It must be lower."

"How does it work? Is there any way to get the crates out from the top?" Beckett asked, walking over and looking into the pit, assessing the situation, all business now because Castle's life depended upon it.

"I guess we could, but it's not designed that way. Stuff goes in at the top and drops to the basement. A conveyor belt takes it the crusher where it's compacted and emptied into bins to be taken to a recycling center or landfill depending on the content."

"What about from the basement?"

"No, ma'am. Like I said, it's not designed that way. Once it goes it, the only way out is through the compactor."

Ryan looked over the edge. "If you can get the ones on top out, I can probably get down to the ones on the bottom."

"So what's the big deal?" asked Munser. "You think someone is in one of the crates?"

"Yes," said Beckett, nodding.

"Really?" he asked in surprise. "What was he doing – mailing himself someplace? You do know that's illegal, don't you?"

"Of course it is," said Beckett, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Hey, Benny," Munser called to one of the other maintenance men. "We got another idiot. Run downstairs and check the output bins. See if there's any … ah, fluid that shouldn't be there."

Benny motioned back and headed down the stairs.

"It doesn't happen very often, but occasionally we get someone who tries that stunt but usually we can catch them before this. And we get a stray animal in the crusher now and then and that's a real mess." He thought a moment. "Better turn off the power first though – wouldn't want anyone else to get squashed. And I need to call fire and rescue and let them know what's going on."

A short time later, the power to the building had been cut and a generator was running emergency lights so that they could see. Benny had found nothing that indicated something had been in the crushed wooden crates.

"Hey, Captain Neil, we've got an extraction," Munser said when the fire brigade arrived, along with Josh and an ambulance.

"Someone fell in the crusher again? There's going to be hell to pay for that with OSHA," Neil said, shaking his head, as he walked over to the area.

"Not exactly. This is Detectives Beckett, Esposito, and Ryan of NYPD homicide," Munser said in the way of introductions.

"So someone dumped a body?" Neil asked Beckett.

"No," Beckett replied tersely. "The person down there _**is**_ alive. He's trapped in a crate."

"Uh, he does know that's illegal, doesn't he?" Neil asked.

"It's not like he had a choice," Beckett snapped back.

"We'll get him out as quickly as we can, ma'am," Neil said as he walked around the edge, planning how the best way to remove the crates. Yeah, this was going to be one of those nights.

The final decision was to lower 2 volunteers into the pit and have them place chains around each crate and then remove it using a forklift crane and then repeat the process until they had removed all of the crates. Since he was slender, Ryan volunteered for the duty, along with a female firefighter.

Ryan took off his jacket and reached inside a pocket for the tablet, and then carefully tucked it inside his shirt. "Thanks," he said as a maintenance man handed him a pair of work gloves.

"You sure he's down there?" Neil asked Beckett before they started.

"No, I'm not," she replied, running her hand through the crown of her hair.

Standing on opposite sides of the opening and tethered by rope, Ryan and the female firefighter carefully reached out to the first crate visible and attached the chains to it.

"Ready," said Ryan as he and the firefighter moved back from the edge so that the maintenance men could lift the crate out of the way. They rotated the crane and sat the crate down to the side, unhooked the chains, and then positioned the crane back over the top of the pit again.

One crate at a time, they repeated the pattern, working their way down further and further into the darkness. The only illumination coming from the pit was a light that had been lowered down alongside Ryan and the firefighter so they could see what they were doing.

Beckett and Espo stood off to the side, silently counting the crates that were brought out and the minutes that were ticking by all too quickly.

The only noise for a minute was Ryan's feet scrambling on the slick sides for purchase and ompfs as he bumped into crates, then came the answer they had been waiting for.

"Hey, hey! I got feedback," Ryan called out. "He's in this crate! Castle, can you hear me? We're getting you out, man," he yelled as he banged on the side of the crate, hoping for a response, but there was only silence.

While the crate was being removed, Beckett placed a quick call to Danberg. "We think we've found Castle. Has the plane taken off yet?" she asked.

"No, we're having them hold it until we know that you have Castle and proof of her involvement. I've alerted the air marshal on board. But we can't hold it much longer," Danberg warned.

"Okay," replied Beckett as she looked over at the pit. "They're bringing up the crate now – I'll call you back."

She held her breath as the crate was brought out of the chute and then lowered gently to the ground away from the opening. Ryan and the female firefighter quickly followed as Esposito used the crowbar to pop the lid off of the crate.

He looked in and then nodded seriously at Beckett. "Yeah, got him."

"Get the power back on immediately," Munser said to one of the maintenance men.

Espo and a firefighter pulled off the front panel of the crate and then the paramedics moved in to pull Castle out of the crate. They quickly cut the duct tape that bound his hands behind his back and lifted the unconscious man onto the gurney.

Beckett ran over to him as they raised the gurney to full height. "Castle, Rick," she called, caressing his pale face gently. She carefully pulled off the duct tape that covered his mouth, flinching when there was no response. The movement caused a small cut on his mouth to start bleeding again. "Castle!" she yelled. "Castle!"

"Kate," said Josh, putting his hands on her arms firmly, bringing her to look at him. "You did your job and found him. Now let me do my job and save him. Okay?"

Beckett stared back at Castle and slowly nodded. Josh looked over at Espo, who touched Kate's arm and moved her out of the way.

"Kate, we need to call Danberg back," he said. "Let him know what's going on."

"Yeah," said Beckett, as she pulled out her phone to make the call.

Josh quickly got to work, feeling for a pulse and checking Castle's respirations. He then pinched the lobe of his ear and yelled, "Castle!" waiting for a response. He shook his head at the paramedic when he didn't get one.

He gently opened Castle's one good eye and shone a light into it. "Pupils are dilated," he said. Not bothering to unbutton Castle's shirt, he used a pair of scissors to cut it open, and then pressed the EKG leads onto his chest, arms, and legs, and ran a strip on the portable EKG.

"He's in bradycardia and bradypnea. Start an IV of Ringer's lactate and push 1 mg of Atropine," Josh said to the paramedic as the man was putting a nasal cannula on Castle.

"Uh, where?" asked the man.

It was evident that Castle had not gone quietly with his captors. Dark bruises stood in various shades of purple against the pale skin of his face and chest, his right eye swollen shut, his hands bruised and scraped. A cut on his forehead had bled, leaving red streaks down his face. The left upper sleeve of his shirt was plastered to his bicep where a bullet had grazed it, as well as the right lower sleeve plastered to his arm by another patch of dried blood.

"Not the right one," Josh said as he looked at the writer's lower right arm. "They probably used an IV to administer a tranquilizer and did a damn poor job." He looked at Castle's left arm for a possible spot. "There – that should work."

After the paramedic hooked up the IV and pushed the Atropine, Josh ran another strip. "That's better," he said nodding but still looked grim. Castle had remained completely unresponsive as they worked on him, definitely not a good sign.

Josh walked over to where Beckett and her team were standing so they weren't in the way. "Kate, we've stabilized him, but we need to get him to the hospital immediately. Do you want to ride along?"

"Go," said Espo. "We'll make the collar. Meet you back at the precinct later."

"Okay," said Beckett. She quickly followed the paramedics as they wheeled the gurney to the waiting ambulance.

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Dr. Roberts, head of the ER, was finishing up his paperwork for the day when he had gotten the call that Davidson was on his way in from JFK with a VIP.

Damn VIP's, he thought. They just made things messy for him even when everything went perfectly – all the unwanted PR and reporters lurking around for the story, disrupting his perfectly balanced system. And to make matters worse, this was a personal friend of the mayor's – this was Richard Castle they were talking about – and he wasn't about to let the writer die on his watch and ruin his ratings.

He pushed off from his desk and walked quickly out the door to the loading bay to wait for the ambulance to await its arrival.

The wait wasn't long as the bay doors swung open and Josh and the paramedics rushed in, pushing the gurney in front of them.

Roberts had reserved the quarantine room to keep the writer apart from the general population in an effort to stem the media frenzy.

"Richard Castle," Josh stated. "44 years old, unresponsive. Blood pressure 100/60, pulse 60, respirations 12, CO2 level 55. We started oxygen about an hour ago, as well as a IV with a push of 1 mg of Atropine. He was given some type of depressive agent about 8 hours ago. We'll know more when the tox screen comes back."

"Is there anyone here who can sign a medical release?" asked Roberts.

"His finance is over there and his mother has been called," said Josh.

Roberts nodded – the mother always won out over the finance.

Her teeth worrying her bottom lip, Beckett watched from the side as they worked on Castle, cutting the rest of his clothes off of him and assessing his injuries. Castle remained unresponsive as they thoroughly cleaned the cuts and bruises, drew arterial blood for analysis, and stitched the wound to his left bicep.

Josh finally walked her out in the hall. "Kate, I won't lie to you. We really expected him to wake up by now. He's breathing on his own, but his CO2 level is still up. If it doesn't come down in the next 30 minutes, we're going to have to place him on a ventilator. His mother is on the way in to give her consent."

Beckett nodded. "Thanks, Josh – for everything you've done."

"Dr. Roberts is the best there is and I've got other patients that I need to see. Let the nurse know if you need anything and I'll check back in a little while," Josh said.

"Okay," said Beckett as she gave him a quick hug. Things may have ended badly between them, but she would always be grateful for what he had done this evening.

Kate walked back in the room and stood at the end of the bed for a minute, ignoring the monitors which continuously reported Castle's vital signs, and then walked up next to the head of the bed.

She leaned, touching her lips lightly to his cold ones and gripping his hand firmly in hers. "You promised you wouldn't do anything like this again without me," she whispered to him as she closed her eyes and placed her forehead against his. "And I'm going to hold you to that," she said as tears slipped down her cheeks onto his face. "You promised," she breathed over and over again until she felt his hand move in hers and looked up to see one blue eye looking at her through a slitted eyelid.

"Sorry," Castle said in a hoarse whisper. "They had assault rifles. I couldn't let them hurt Mrs. Sun."

"Who?" Beckett asked, smiling through her tears.

"The two other me's who followed us," Castle whispered before he closed his eye.

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	16. Chapter 16

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

**Author's Notes**: Rate T for language and innuendo. Also I'm taking artistic liberties with how fast the investigation is going because, in the real world, it doesn't happen this fast. Warnings about how certain procedures are done in the hospital for those of you who have not experienced this indignity first hand.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle: Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. Just writing for fun. 6 days to go!

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**This Is Castle We're Talking About – Chapter 16**

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By the time Martha and Alexis arrived, Castle was more alert and frankly getting onto the nurses' nerves. This was Castle they were talking about after all and he was curious about everything and wanted to watch the monitors. They had raised the head of the bed, but with one eye working and the other patched, it was hard to see anything.

The ER staff had already run several tests on him, including a full body scan and tox panel, and were awaiting the results before they proceeded with treatment.

Martha and Alexis both hugged him gently and then Nurse Edes shooed them out. Hospital regulations only allowed one visitor at a time in the ER and they had decided that it would be Kate for the time being.

When an important guest was in the ER, Dr. Richards always assigned Marta Edes to the case. She was a no-nonsense nurse who didn't let a person's supposed status sway her. She treated them all alike, the famous and the not-so-famous – and that was that she followed the doctor's orders and the patients followed her orders. However, she always had a ready smile and a compassionate hand for her patients and their families.

Other than feeling like he'd been hit by a bus, one thing Castle realized fairly quickly after he was fully awake was that he had to pee urgently. He was about to pull off the blankets that covered him with when Beckett stopped him.

"Not so fast there, writer man. I wouldn't do that if I were you – I'm pretty sure your fans are watching," she said, motioning to the camera installed in the corner of the ceiling.

"Uh, Kate – where are my clothes?" Castle said as he looked at himself under the blankets and then clutched them to his chest, looking at her with wide eyes.

"Probably in some evidence bag by now," Beckett replied innocently. "Josh had to cut them off of you."

"Huh? Josh?!" Castle exclaimed as his heart rate beeped faster.

"They needed to treat you really quickly and he is a doctor," Kate admonished. "Don't worry – I'm sure he's seen everything before."

"Yeah, but not my everything," Castle sulked.

"Well, now he has and you can compare notes later," Beckett responded tersely. "I'll call Ms. Edes."

"No, not Attila the Hun," Castle hissed. "Look and see if you can find me a robe in one of the drawers."

"Too late," said Beckett as she pressed the call button.

"You're enjoying this," Castle pouted.

"Don't think I'm letting you off the hook for one minute for what you did today," Beckett said, barely containing her anger as she glared at him. "You promised me you wouldn't do this again. What if we hadn't gotten to you in time? What if you had died?"

"But you did – I knew you would," Castle said in a way of apology and then realized his mistake as Beckett turned away from him to wipe her eyes. "Hey, Kate, hey," he said softly, reaching his hand out to her, using almost the same words he had used once before. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "I made you a promise and I broke it. What I did was wrong and I endangered the team." Castle waited for a few minutes for Kate to turn back to him, her lips pressed into a thin line. "What I can promise is that," he took a deep breath, "I'll try really hard to never do it again. Or at least, I'll take you with me when I do," he said hopefully. "Or if you're not available, Esposito or Ryan," he added as an afterthought. "But probably just Esposito – he could have really whaled on those guys."

Beckett smiled slightly. "Well, you're still in big trouble," she said as she squeezed his hand.

Nurse Edes walked into the room, stopping by the sink to wash her hands first before walking over to Castle. "Do you need something, Mr. Castle?"

"Can I have a gown or a robe – I need to…" he trailed off as she handed him a urinal.

"Dr. Roberts hasn't given clearance for you to get out of bed yet," Nurse Edes said. "Your blood pressure still isn't steady."

"So I can't talk you into it?" Castle asked, giving her the best smile he could muster in his condition.

"No, but we could always put in a cath if you'd find that easier. We need to get a sample anyway," Ms. Edes said, smiling back at him and patting his foot.

"No, thanks," said Castle, sulking.

"Call me if you need any help," the nurse said as she walked out, "or I could always send in your mother."

"Need some help?" Beckett asked, trying hard not to smile.

"No, thanks – just turn around," Castle replied testily.

"Excuse me?" Beckett asked, taken aback.

Castle motioned with his hand. "Turn around."

"Okay," said Beckett as she turned around in the chair. "Castle, it's not like I haven't seen you before."

"Well, you've never seen me do this before," he said, lifting the blanket and positioning things. He swore as he bumped a bruised, sensitive area and then let out a soft moan in relief.

"Hey, Castle, you got a new girlfriend over there?" Beckett asked as she stared at the wall.

"Detective Beckett, you have got a dirty mind," said Castle as he finished. "You can call Attila back."

Smiling, Beckett turned back around in the chair and pressed the call button.

Ms. Edes walked back into the room, washed her hands again, and put on gloves before taking the urinal from Castle. "Looks like you're not having any problems with your kidneys," she remarked, looking at the contents, as Castle's face turned pink.

Dr. Roberts walked into the room. "We've got the test results back and it's good news/bad news," he said. "Which do you want first?"

"The bad news," said Beckett at the same time Castle said, "the good news."

"Well, we'll start with the good news then. You were given a high dose of a benzodiazepine but there doesn't seem to be any after effects from it. The scan shows no concussion and no broken or cracked bones though you do have a significant amount of bruising. We've managed to get your blood pressure under control, so you should be able to get up in a little while and then we'll move you to a regular room for observation."

"And the bad news?" asked Castle, thinking that the good news was pretty bad.

"Since you were given such a high dose, the only thing we can give you for pain is extra strength Tylenol and ice packs that will help with the swelling – 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off," Dr. Roberts said. "Anything else could cause an adverse reaction."

Right on cue, Nurse Edes showed up with a couple of towels and the promised ice packs.

"Thanks," said Beckett as she took them from her.

"Detectives Esposito and Ryan are here to take Mr. Castle's statement," Nurse Edes said. "Try to keep it short. We're making an exception in this case."

"Thank you, Ms. Edes," Beckett said.

Beckett quickly arranged the ice packs on Castle and he sighed with relief again, causing Beckett to roll her eyes.

"Whoa, bro – you look like you hit a wall," said Espo as he and Ryan walked into the room.

"Yeah, a couple of them, but you should have seen what I did to the walls," Castle quipped.

"We already have," said Ryan, pulling out a notepad. "We picked up the two other drivers – Burt Reynolds and Bret Masterson. Definitely assumed names, but we should be able to id them shortly. And Danberg is bringing Ms. Parker in."

"So, Castle, what can you tell us about Sue Parker?" Espo asked, getting down to business.

"Who?" said Castle, frowning at them.

"The woman who was with Linderhoff – the woman who kidnapped you and stuffed you into the crate," prompted Ryan.

"Who's Sue Parker?" Castle said again, a confused look on his face.

Beckett stared at him. Their whole case rested on Castle. "You do remember what happened, don't you, Castle?" she asked in concern. "Sue Parker kidnapped you – she tried to kill you."

"No," said Castle, trying not to shake his head. "And yes," he replied quickly at the looks of dismay on the detectives' faces. "But her name's not Sue Parker – it's Carmelita Deigo, who for a dead person looks really good."

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	17. Chapter 17

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

**Author's Notes**: Rate T for language and violence and innuendo. Also I'm taking artistic liberties with how fast the investigation is going because, in the real world, it doesn't happen this fast. And some of the names of the towns are made up. Let's see if I can do this without being distracted by season premier tonight.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle: Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. Just writing for fun.

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**This Is Castle We're Talking About – Chapter 17**

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"I take it you know her?" asked Beckett stiffly.

"Carmelita Regina Deigo – the black widow of San Rafael? Unfortunately, yes," Castle replied and then glanced over at Ryan and Espo. "Can you give us a minute alone?" he asked.

"Sure, bro," said Espo, as he and Ryan looked at each other. Were mom and dad going to start fighting again?

After they stepped out into the hallway, Castle studied Beckett. "Kate, you know my past – you know I've been with other women. And Carmelita was one of them. Are you comfortable with my discussing this with Esposito and Ryan? Like I said the first time we went to the Hamptons, none of the other women are you. And I've never said that to any other woman. So are we good?" Castle asked seriously.

Beckett thought for a moment, biting her lower lip slightly. She wasn't naïve and yes, they both had a past, so she couldn't – wouldn't – hold that against him. "Yeah, we're good," she said, getting up from the chair and gently kissing him on the lips before walking over to the door and calling Espo and Ryan back in.

"So what can you tell us about this Carmelita Deigo?" asked Ryan, feigning a disinterested look, preparing to write down what Castle said. "Why do you think she was so intent on killing you?"

Beckett moved back to the side of the bed and took Castle's hand in hers, giving it a squeeze. He smiled at her and then looked at Ryan.

"Because I can identify her and whatever she's done or doing, she doesn't want anyone around who can," Castle said simply. He laid his head back on the pillow and thought for a moment before beginning. "We met about 12 years ago when I was doing a book tour in the towns around Mexico City. Since they had never been to that part of Mexico, Paula and Alexis came with me. And it was one of the best weeks and worst weeks of my life, with Carmelita definitely being in the worse category.

"The first night we were there, Paula had arranged a dinner for the local who's who and Carmelita was on the guest list. And fortunately, so were Pablo and Miguel and it was great to see them again." Castle smiled at the memory. "They invited us to stay at their villa in San Rafael, but I said no because Paula had already made arrangements, so we decided to get together the next weekend."

"And who are Pablo and Miguel?" asked Ryan, scribbling furiously.

"They're the sons of a man that my mother was in love with when I was 10. Pablo Sanchez, Sr. was in New York to consultant on some museum exhibits and saw her in a play and was smitten. That was until he had to go back to Mexico for a dig and Mother didn't want to move there.

"Carmelita was the local doctor in San Rafael and also the niece of one of the town's richest citizens – Maximiliano Ortiz. She was charming and gracious, said that Alexis was the cutest thing she had ever seen. She also said that I was one of the most interesting men she had ever met and she felt this … something the first time we talked." Castle took a deep breath and had the decency to blush slightly. "Let's just say she was insatiable and that should have been my first clue that something was wrong. Anyway, she and Alexis seemed to bond and Carmelita spent the next couple of days showing us around. But then one morning, while she was at work, Uncle Max paid me a visit."

"To find out your intentions?" asked Espo.

"No," said Castle, looking at him. "To warn me about his niece. Seems she likes her hombres rich, unattached, and easily manipulated; handsome and tall were bonus points. She had already gone through two husbands. The first died in a house fire a couple of months after they were married – it was attributed to his smoking in bed and there were only ashes left of the body. The second died when he drove his car off a cliff during a rain storm a week before their first wedding anniversary – again nothing left of the body. And each left her a boat load of money. Carmelita had been at work both times, but Uncle Max was sure that she was involved. The family was in 'the business' so she knew how to get rid of people."

"Mexican mafia? Seriously, bro?" asked Espo.

Castle nodded. "Max said that, based on reading my books, he knew I was a smart guy and I'd make the right decision. Needless to say, the conversation really rattled me and Carmelita could tell that something was different.

"The next day, Paula had already left to make sure everything was ready at the next stop so she wasn't around and Alexis wanted to swim, so I left her with the recommended babysitter while I went to the afternoon book signing.

"That evening, when I got to the cabana where we were staying, Carmelita was there, dressed in a see-through negligee, with two glasses of champagne and candles burning and rose petals all over the place. She said she felt like we were soul mates and meant to be together for all eternity.

"I stalled her, saying that I needed to check on Alexis, but when I went to her room, she wasn't there. Carmelita said that she wanted to be alone with me, so she had sent the babysitter home and had her sister pick Alexis up and take her to her house for the night.

"I told Carmelita that this wasn't going to work and demanded that she take me to her sister's house immediately to get Alexis. We drove over there and I got Alexis and left Carmelita there, and then Alexis and I drove straight to Pablo's villa where we stayed for the rest of the trip.

"Pablo apologized when he realized who I had been seeing, saying that he would have warned me if he had known about it and we were lucky to have gotten out when we did.

"The next morning, he and I went back to the cabana to get our stuff, and when we went in, we found the cabana boy passed out in the living room. It seems when he came to clean up, he saw the champagne on the table and had drunk both glasses."

"She tried to roofie you?" asked Ryan.

Castle nodded. "That's what the test results from the cabana boy showed. Pablo said I could press charges, but it probably wouldn't do any good because of her connections. So I made sure any time that I went to Mexico, I always stayed with Pablo or Miguel and steered clear of Carmelita. And after that, any time I had Alexis with me on a tour, I made sure it was just her and me."

Castle paused, frowning for a moment. "I asked Alexis later why she went with Carmelita's sister and she said that Carmelita had been so nice when we were with her and shown her a note that I had written that said it was okay for her to go. And it was a note I had written, but not to Alexis – it was to Paula about the itinerary for the next stop."

"Whoa, bro – you sure know how to pick them," said Espo. "No offense," he quickly added, looking at Beckett.

"None taken," Beckett replied. "So how do you know that Sue Parker is Carmelita Diego?" she asked, looking at Castle. She had seen the pictures of both women and, though they looked similar, they didn't look alike. Sue Parker was a curly-headed blonde with a tan and freckles and green eyes, while Carmelita was a straight-haired brunette with clear pale skin and blue eyes.

"Like I said, she's in the business, so she knows how to disguise herself. You don't have to make yourself look that different – just change the makeup, hair, and eye color a little, lose or gain a little weight. But it was really the tattoo that gave her away," Castle said, nodding slowly, eyes narrowed a little in remembrance.

"Tattoo?" asked Ryan, making a note.

"Yeah, a dragon tattoo – it starts on her lower back and goes around her left hip and the flames go down to her … you know, down," said Castle, not looking at Beckett. "And she did tell me who she was right before she tried to kill me," he added almost as an afterthought.

"And so how did you see this tattoo?" Ryan asked, eyes narrowed. Castle sometimes shared too much information for his own good, but then again he might not be thinking too straight right now. But this was Castle they were talking about and when hadn't he been a little out of the box?

"She bent over at the warehouse and her top came up and her pants rode down," Castle said. "That's when I saw the tattoo and she knew that I had seen it. So she told me who she was and that I had missed my chance." He thought for a moment and continued. "She did say that out of all her many men, I was her favorite. I wonder if that's what the female praying mantis says to the male praying mantis before she eats him…"

"So what did Linderhoff say that got you started looking into all of this?" asked Ryan, quickly changing the subject.

"Yeah, bro," said Espo. "We know you listened to the conversation that Demming recorded at the warehouse on Monday."

"About that," said Castle. "It's classified."

Espo gave him the 'oh, really, I eat classified for breakfast' look.

Beckett immediately came to Castle's rescue before Espo could say anything. "So," she said, getting up from the chair and walking around, "you told Danberg what you had heard and he came up with a plan to get Linderhoff to confess to what he was doing."

The way she looked at him clued Castle in on the fact that she knew what the message was and who it was from.

"No, sorry – that was me." Castle shrugged with one shoulder in way of an apology. "Danberg told me Linderhoff was leaving the country tomorrow and Fallon said they thought he was smuggling terrorists. I thought it was a good plan – recreate what I had done Monday and see if we could find what I had found then that caused all of this – see if we could shake something loose." He frowned. "Who knew that a piece of low-tech would bring down a multi-million dollar device?" he asked rhetorically. Parts of his mouth still hurt from where Beckett had pulled the duct tape off of it.

"Well, you certainly shook something loose, bro," Espo said. "Good thing you know Morse code and that Ellis was able to figure out what you were trying to tell us before…" he faded off as Beckett shot him the look.

"So what happened this morning?" asked Ryan.

"Uh, Demming and I left the hospital and went to the library and found what I had been working on Monday. Danberg had set up a meeting with Linderhoff at 11 am and we were going to wait there, but I ripped my pants, so we went to the cleaners because we had time before the meeting. That's when I found the necklace and saw the two men following us.

"I thought this might be what they were looking for, so I gave it to Mrs. Sun to give to Demming and then left to draw them away. I saw a police cruiser parked at the end of an alley and thought I could make it." Castle shrugged. "But they had guns and I tripped when the bullet grazed my arm. Then we scuffled and they won and threw me in the trunk of a car – probably a Corolla based on the size of the trunk – you know how small those things are?"

Ryan cleared his throat slightly.

"Oh, right," said Castle. "The next thing I know, we're at a warehouse full of crates. I heard airplanes taking off and landing, so I knew we were near an airport. Then I saw the tattoo and that's the last thing I remember," said Castle, frowning.

"So we've at least got her on one count of kidnapping and attempted murder," said Ryan. "But how does Linderhoff tie into this and why do you think they are human trafficking?

"It's simple," said Castle. "He ships exhibits world-wide. It would be easy to drug someone with … something and fake their death and then sneak someone inside one of those crates."

"About that," said Beckett. "The airport x-rays each crate before it's put on a plane. They would notice if someone was in one."

"Then maybe it was the necklace that I found at the warehouse Monday and put in my pocket," Castle said thinking out loud. "When I saw it this morning, I knew it was Alyssa's. Maybe it just took me a while to realize that on Monday. Linderhoff was setting up an exhibit in Mexico City when she died. Maybe they use some other method to get them out of the country."

"Castle, I need to tell you something about that," said Beckett as she pulled the chair closer to the bed and sat down, taking his hand in hers. "Alexis and I talked to Pablo this afternoon. They just found out that there was a mix-up at Alyssa's funeral. The funeral home wheeled 2 coffins into the hallway at the same time and they buried the wrong coffin and sent Alyssa's to the crematory. Before the body was cremated, they removed the jewelry and sold it on ebay. So it's possible that whoever bought it dropped it at the warehouse."

"Oh," said Castle, laying his head back on the pillow. It was hard to think without being able to pace. He knew he was missing something, but what was it?

"Demming and Fallon are questioning Parker and two drivers now," said Espo, "so maybe they'll have something when we get back."

"Well, hopefully she'll do life in a small cell somewhere now, not tanning on some beach, stalking rich guys," Castle commented drily.

There was a knock on the door and Nurse Edes walked in with fresh ice packs. "I'm sorry, gentlemen, but our patient needs to rest now. I hope you got what you need, but if you didn't, you can come back when we move him to a private room."

"I tell you what, guys, it's been a long day," said Beckett, standing up. "Let's call it a night and pick this up again tomorrow morning."

"All right," said Ryan. "See you tomorrow, Castle."

"Yeah, bro – take it easy and don't run into any more walls," chuckled Espo as they walked out of the room.

Beckett turned back to Castle. "I'm going to go find Martha and Alexis so that they can see you before Ms. Edes locks you in for the night."

"Kate, it's been a long day – you should really go home and get some rest," Castle said, suppressing a yawn.

"No way, mister," Beckett retorted, coming back over to the bed and giving him a quick kiss. "You pulled that last night and look where it got you. And if I went home, how would you know that I'm still mad at you?" she asked sweetly before walking out of the room.

Oh, yeah, thought Castle, there was going to be hell to pay for that.

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Martha and Alexis said a quick 'good night' and promised to be back first thing tomorrow with clothes – well, maybe not the first thing since Martha needed her beauty sleep and she was sure that it would be obvious if Richard tried to escape from the hospital wearing just a hospital gown.

When he and Beckett were finally alone, Castle inched over in the bed so there was room for Kate to lie down after his 'other girlfriend' came back for a visit.

"I'm sorry," he said softly to Beckett as she carefully arranged herself along his side. "I broke another promise to you."

"Well, just see that it doesn't happen again, okay," Beckett said, as she gently stroked his chest and breathed into his neck.

"Uh, Kate, I don't think that's such a good idea," Castle said in a heavy breath. "Writer man isn't up for playing tonight."

"Yeah, well," said Beckett with an evil grin. "You know, we can always just cuddle, Castle."

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The next morning, Beckett woke up feeling stiff from having slept on the guest couch in the private room they had wheeled Castle to about 3 am. Castle was still sound asleep and looked in a lot less pain now that they had decided it was safe to give him something.

She stretched and grabbed her jacket, heading to the coffee shop to get a couple of cups of coffee to go. Her phone rang while she was standing in line.

"Beckett," she answered as she moved out of the line.

"Hey, Kate," said Sorenson. "How'd it go last night? You okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine."

"Listen," he paused. "I have something to tell you."

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By the time that she got back to the room, Castle was awake and sitting up in bed, trying to keep the hospital gown they had eventually given him adjusted.

"Ah, real coffee," Castle grinned as Beckett came back in. "What would I do without you?"

Kate put the cups down on the bedside tray and then looked at him seriously. "Rick," she started.

"I know," he said sheepishly taking in her expression. She rarely called him Rick unless she really wanted to grab his attention. "What I did was wrong and I'll never do it again. I'm sorry."

"No, it's not that," Beckett replied, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. She paused for a moment. "Do you remember when I told you that I might not want to know who murdered my mother because the thought of having to sit and watch as he cuts some deal that puts him back on the street in ten years makes me nauseous?"

Castle nodded slowly. "Yeah?"

"Sorenson called. Deigo has cut a deal to inform on her cousin if the Feds give her immunity," Beckett said simply. "They are dropping the kidnapping and attempted murder charges and putting her in the witness protection program."

"So that's it? She just walks?" Castle said, no expression on his face.

Beckett nodded. "Yeah. We don't have anything else to hold her on. They'll be here this morning to pick her up." She paused for a moment and said quietly, "I'm sorry."

Castle laid his head back on the pillow. "Okay, so then we'll find something."

Beckett shook her head and said quietly, "I'm sorry, Castle. It's over. There's nothing we can do."

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	18. Chapter 18

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

**Author's Notes**: Rate T for language and violence and innuendo. Also I'm taking artistic liberties with how fast the investigation is going because, in the real world, it doesn't happen this fast. And some of the names of the towns are made up. Still waiting for the season premiere but I just had to get this one out today too.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle: Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. Just writing for fun.

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**This Is Castle We're Talking About – Chapter 18**

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Castle stared at the TV screen, not paying attention as he flipped through the channels.

Kate had stayed for a little while longer after she told him the news and then said she needed to get back to the precinct to finalize the paperwork. She kissed him gently with an "I'm sorry," breathed quietly into his ear.

He shifted in bed again, trying to find a comfortable spot. That trunk had been really small and the crate hadn't helped.

The question that kept nagging him though was why he didn't call Pablo or Miguel when he found Alyssa's necklace. Why did he call the American embassy in France instead?

Castle shifted again and then made up his mind. He technically hadn't promised Kate that he would stay here and he really needed to see what the team had put together before the feds took Carmelita into custody.

He pressed the call button several times and finally a male nurse walked into the room.

"Yes, Mr. Castle – did you need something?"

"Clothes – I'm checking myself out," Castle said as he got out of bed. "And this thing," he said holding up his arm with the IV in it. "Can you take it out?"

"Well, we really don't advise that you leave, but since you're so insistent…" Nurse Ron said. "I've got some extra clothes that I can lend you."

The nurse left and was back in a few minutes with a backpack. "Here, let's take that out first," he said and quickly removed the IV. "Can I call you a cab?"

"Yes – tell them to be downstairs in 15 minutes," said Castle.

"Sure thing, and I am such a big fan of your Storm series."

Castle dumped the backpack out on the bed and quickly pulled on the black pants and black Amanda Palmer t-shirt and then stopped short when he saw his reflection in the mirror. What was he thinking? Nurse Ron was several inches shorter than him and weighed at least 50 pounds more. The pants came up several inches above his ankles, clashing with the green hospital socks and black house shoes he wore. He practically had to tie the belt around his waist, making the pants balloon out.

But beggars can't be choosers he thought as he grabbed the jacket and rushed out of the room.

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When Castle arrived at the 12th, he didn't even stop in the break room to get a cup of coffee before sliding into the conference room where they had set up the command center.

It was empty, and they hadn't removed any of the pictures and articles yet. He sat on the edge of the table, slowly scanning the board, trying to make everything make sense until Beckett broke his concentration.

"Castle – what are you doing here? I thought they were keeping you for observation today." She surveyed him from head to toe. "Uh - is there something I need to know?"

"I can't help wondering why I called the embassy in Paris rather than Pablo or Miguel when I found Alyssa's necklace. It doesn't make sense and I had to see what you put together to see if I can figure it out."

Espo and Ryan took that opportunity to walk. "Whoa, dude!" exclaimed Espo, stopping short as he looked at Castle. "That is definitely not a good look on you."

"What – I don't rock grunge?" Castle retorted.

"Not really," Ryan said, shaking his head. "It's kinda weird – like watching an aging rock star."

"Well, beggars can't be choosers," said Castle, rolling his eyes at them and looking back at the board. "This has something to do with Paris but how does Carmelita tie into it?"

Beckett placed a comforting hand on his arm. "Look, Castle, I know how it feels to go down a rabbit hole."

Castle shook her hand off, suddenly angry. "This is my rabbit hole then. And I'm going down it head first to see what I can find."

He moved toward the board. "It started when Alexis and I were in Paris. Alexis finally went to sleep on the couch in the room we were in and I went to get coffee. On the way back, I stopped by the bathroom and found Mr. Brennan there, just sitting in a corner, a blank expression on his face. He said it was a father's worst nightmare," Castle said, tracing what he had written on a paper taped to the board. "They had flown over to see their daughter but she had died the night before. I offered what I could do to help them, but the funeral home had accidentally cremated her body and already gotten rid of the ashes because they thought the ashes belonged to a homeless person. They didn't even have a body to bring back home. He had a picture of his daughter and we just sat and stared at it without saying anything. We were gone so long that they had to come find us."

"When Mr. Brennen got back to the room that they were in, the ME who had done the autopsy was there – she was so angry at the funeral home because they didn't follow protocol. I could hear her yelling all the way down the hall."

He stared at the articles about Simone's death and the accident that had claimed the lives of the Brennan's less than a year later and then frowned. "Where's the rest of these articles? Espo – can you get them?" he asked, looking at the detective and then looking back at the board.

"Demming had more photos in his car," Castle said, looking at the photos taped to the board. "These aren't all of the ones that were taken at the warehouse."

Beckett took a folder out of the cabinet in the room. "Here are the rest," she said as she spread them on the table. "There are several pictures before you got there and then after you left. We have positive identifications on Parker – uh – Deigo, the two drivers and Mr. Linderhoff. Then you leave and he leaves and three other people come into the picture."

"That's the one," said Castle pointing to the picture that Kate held.

"We can't get facial recognition from the two in the shadows and the other person is not in any database," said Beckett.

"Yes, she is," said Castle, recognizing the person in the picture since it had been burned into his brain that day in France. "You can't find her in any US databases because she's a French citizen. And you can find her picture in the New York Times obits that were published a week after Alexis and I got back from France. But for a dead person, Simone Brennan is looking pretty alive too."

Other than flying the Brennan's home first class, the obituary for their daughter was the one small tangible thing that Castle he could do for them.

"You've found it, Castle," breathed Beckett, smiling at him admiringly.

"Yeah, and with time to spare," said Castle, looking at his watch. "Shall we go confront the bitch?"

"She's still in the interrogation room," said Ryan.

"So did you leave her there all night?" asked Castle. "Because that would have been great."

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Castle smiled as he and Beckett walked into interrogation room and slapped the picture down on the table in front of Carmelita.

"Well, hello, Ricardo," she said, smiling at him seductively, leaning back in her chair. "You look like you've recovered nicely from our activities on Monday. I hope they weren't too tiring. You know how I like bondage."

That caught Castle off guard. "I'm pretty sure we didn't do anything on Monday."

Carmelita laughed. "Well, you were always a little slow on the uptake, but that's what made you so special. So trusting and gullible. But after you got started…" she said, closing her eyes dreamily. "It was a great threesome. This is Richard Caste we're talking about after all."

Castle turned to Beckett. "Kate, I swear I didn't do anything like that on Monday. You can check with Lanie."

Sitting like a sphinx, her poker face in play, Beckett just kept staring at Carmelita, ignoring what Castle had said.

"Ms. Deigo, according to Mr. Castle, you kidnapped him yesterday afternoon and tried to kill him."

"An unfortunate misunderstanding. My boys just got a little rough."

"Ms. Deigo, can you explain the presence of this young woman at the warehouse on Monday?" she asked as she slid the photograph towards the woman and pointed toward Chloe.

"Oh, my niece – surely Richard has mentioned that I have several sisters. This is my oldest sister's daughter," she said without looking at the photograph. "She was visiting me."

"And is she still here?"

"No," Carmelita said. "She went home on Tuesday."

Beckett sat back and studied the woman. "Then why did our facial recognition software match her with Simone Brennan, a French citizen who died last year?"

Carmelita shrugged. "The software is wrong."

"Do you know a Simone Brennan?" Beckett continued.

"No," said Carmelita, thinking and then shaking her head slightly. "I have never met this Simone Brennan. In fact, I've never been to France."

Castle leaned forward, hands on the table in front of Carmelita, smiling at her. "Yes, you have. Alexis needed clothes when we were there and Julie took us to Dries Van Noten and Balenciaga. I saw your name on the registries – in fact, they were on the same line as Dr. Claire Dimont – she was the ME who did the autopsy on Simone. It's really hard to get appointments at those stores – you have to know someone." He paused, thinking. "In fact, I saw you get into a car with her when you were leaving Balenciaga."

"Too bad you remembered, Richard. It would have been a lot simpler if you had died when the boys had you," Carmelita said and then moved swiftly, plunging a syringe into his arm and depressing the plunger all the way. "Goodbye, Richard. You know, out of all my many men, you were always my favorite."

As he was falling down a well, Castle could hear Carmelita laughing and Kate's screams and then it was like he was watching the scene unfold beneath him as he floated in the air.

Espo and Ryan grabbed Carmelita and drug her out of the room, while Josh ran in and felt for a pulse.

"No pulse!" he yelled, starting chest compressions. "Get me an AED and call 911!"

Ryan ran back into the room with an AED and Josh cut the t-shirt down the middle and placed the pads onto Castle's chest.

He pressed the Analyze button on the machine and waited.

"Administering a shock," he yelled. "Everyone – stay clear." Josh pushed the button and the electric shock coursed through Castle's body, but to no avail. He started CRP again and waited 2 minutes before delivering another shock.

"Is the damn ambulance here yet?" he yelled.

"They're stuck in traffic."

Josh tried one more time to shock Castle's heart and then leaned back on his heels and looked up at Kate and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Kate," he said softly.

"No, no," wailed Kate as she fell at Castle's side, gently touching his face.

The metallic man rose up in front of him, raising a garish arm to point at him, opening its jaws wide.

Richard. Alexander. Rogers. came the insistent voice out of its mouth, the blinding light pulling at him.

Kate continued to sob as Josh put his arms around her, pulling her away from Castle. "I'm so sorry," the doctor said gently. "There was nothing I could do."

"No, you were wonderful," said Kate, looking back at Castle with a sob and then back to Josh. "It just wasn't meant to be."

The metallic man screamed louder, demanding Castle's attention. Richard. Alexander. Rogers.

No, he thought, struggling – this is wrong he thought as he watched Kate kiss Josh passionately. Wasn't there a set period for grieving?

"You're amazing," Kate said, staring lovingly at Josh. "You save the people every day – how could someone like Castle compare to that?"

Then Ryan and Espo put his body into a body bag and zipped it up, and took a portable drill and screwed the lid shut, blocking out all light.

RICHARD! ALEXANDER! ROGERS! The metallic man's voice screamed in his ear.

Castle jerked awake, sweating and shaking, starting when he saw his mother's worried face just inches from his. "Mom?" he said groggily.

"Richard, are you all right? You were having a nightmare and I've been trying to wake you up but I couldn't," said Martha.

"Uh, yeah," coughed Castle, looking around at the hospital room and taking deep breaths to calm his frantic breathing.

Several nurses had run into the room when the alarms started going off and were quickly making adjustments.

"Paper – I need paper," Castle said hoarsely, swallowing. "Now."

"What?" Martha asked, confused.

"I don't think I was having a nightmare – I think I was remembering what happened on Monday – or parts of it at least." He looked at the bag that Martha had brought with her. "Are those my clothes?"

"Yes – some pajamas and an outfit to go home in."

"Good," said Castle. "Then if I die, I won't look like an ancient grunge rocker."

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	19. Chapter 19

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

**Author's Notes**: Rate T for language and violence and innuendo. Also I'm taking artistic liberties with how fast the investigation is going because, in the real world, it doesn't happen this fast. And some of the names of the towns are made up. And sorry for the late update – life sucks sometimes and that doesn't leave much time for writing. Thanks for reading though. I appreciate all the reviews.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle: Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. Just writing for fun.

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**This Is Castle We're Talking About – Chapter 19**

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By the time Dr. Bresslier arrived to examine him, Castle had scribbled down his dream and ripped the leads off his chest. He had also bullied the nurses into taking out the IV so he could change into his street clothes, making himself the least favorite patient of the moment.

"Mr. Castle, I really must protest," said Dr. Bresslier. "Your blood pressure is slightly elevated from the drugs you were given yesterday and we'd like to continue monitoring you. I don't think it's wise for you to leave the hospital at this point."

"But I need to get to the precinct now," Castle said, standing his ground. "You can either write me a day pass or I'll discharge myself AMA."

"AMA it is then," said Bresslier with a sigh, "but I still must protest." He looked over at Martha for help but she just shrugged. This was Castle they were talking about and she knew from experience that once her son had his mind made up about something, there was little chance of changing it.

"Don't worry, doctor, if he drops dead, we promise not to sue," she said.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, mother," retorted Castle as he slipped on his pants under the hospital gown and then took it off and put on his usual button down shirt. The green socks and black house shoes were the last things to go as he took them off and slipped on a pair of socks and loafers.

Castle checked his appearance in the mirror. At least he didn't look so unkempt this time – beat up and a little crazy perhaps, but definitely not grunge.

"Richard, your car is here," said Martha, putting her cell phone back in her purse and getting up off the couch.

"Thanks," he said, giving her a quick hug and kiss. "Did you bring my cell phone?"

"Of course," she said, pulling his cell phone out of her purse and handing it to him. "Darling, are you going to call Kate and let her know you're coming?" she asked innocently.

Castle paused for a moment, charting his best course of action since he had probably used up all of his good graces with her this week already. "I think I'll just get her a large coffee instead – maybe a couple of bear claws." Really – how much could she yell if her mouth was full? And then afterward, he could help her get rid of the crumbs.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

Castle fidgeted the entire elevator ride up to the bullpen, holding a white sack and coffee in one hand and pressing the button repeatedly with the other. He burst through the doors before they were open all the way and ran into the bull pen, nearly knocking over a couple of people.

He frowned when he saw the blank murder board and then quickly grabbed the first officer he could find after putting the sack and coffee on Beckett's desk.

"Simpsom, that case Beckett was working – where is it?" he asked breathlessly.

"I think she just took it down to the evidence room. If you hurry, you might catch her."

"Thanks," Castle said over his shoulder as he ran back to the elevator and punched the down button several times. He quickly hopped in when the doors opened and pressed the button for the floor that the evidence room was located on.

Beckett wasn't there when he got to the evidence room and no one was behind the counter, so Castle rang the bell until he had the officer's attention.

"Keep your pants on, I'm coming," said a voice from the back. "Oh, Mr. Castle, how can I help you?" said the officer as he walked up to the counter.

"Detective Kate Beckett just checked a box in – and I – she needs it back," Castle said, looking as innocent as he could.

"Sorry – I really can't let you have it," the officer replied apologetically.

"What if I looked at it here in the hallway?" Castle asked, barely keeping his agitation under control. "You can watch me to make sure I don't take anything," he bargained. "And I'm sure Officer Beckett will be here any minute." And hopefully he'd still be in one piece after that.

"Well – this is against regulations," said the officer, "but okay, and only in the hallway." In the past 6 years, Castle had been a regular down here with Beckett, Espo, or Ryan, so they almost treated him like a cop at times even though he wasn't. And no one had yet to complain about Castle handling evidence up to this point, except maybe Perlmutter.

The officer quickly returned with a box and Castle grabbed it out of the man's hands and spread the contents along the wall of the hall, rapidly sorting through it.

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"Beckett," said the detective, answering her phone as it rang while she was walking to her car to go back to the hospital.

"Oh, Kate, darling," said Martha on the other end. "Have you left the precinct yet?"

"No – why?" asked Beckett. "Has something happened?"

"Well, you might want to turn around and go back inside," Martha replied in response. "Richard—"

"—is supposed to be in the hospital. He didn't check himself out AMA, did he?"

"Surprise," said Martha, with a smile and slight apology in her voice. "He said he remembered what happened on Monday and wanted to get there as quickly as possible to put everything together before the Feds took that dreadful Carmelita woman into custody."

"Thanks for the warning, Martha. I'll make sure he gets back okay after I kill him." Beckett pocketed her phone as she turned and stalked back inside the building. "Ohhhh," she said angrily, huffing the hair out of her eyes.

When she arrived on the 4th floor, Officer Simpsom quickly pointed her to the evidence room, where she found Castle scrambling around on the floor on his hands and knees, putting the pieces together like a big puzzle.

Later on, she would think the sight would be hysterical – in fact, Javi and Kevin (and the rest of the precinct) got a big kick out of the video that the officer behind the counter was taking on his phone and then Castle's comment, "Wow – that really makes my butt look big." after he saw the video – but right now, not so much.

"Castle," she said softly as she knelt down beside him and put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. "I told you it was over. She cut a deal – we can't prosecute her now."

"Yeah, not for my kidnapping and attempted murder, but we can for human trafficking – that's not part of the deal," he said fervently, looking at her.

Beckett sat back on her heels. "But we can't prove anything happened and we can't connect her, Rick. All we have is circumstantial evidence."

"Yes, we can. It's all in here; we just have to put it together," he said, motioning to the paper-strewn hallway.

She considered for a moment and nodded. "Then let's take this back upstairs and do it properly."

"Good, 'cus I got you coffee and a bear claw – it's on your desk," he said in the way of an apology.

"Oh, I'm not letting you off the hook that easy," said Beckett as she helped him put the papers back in the box.

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When they were back at the bullpen, Castle carefully took the items out of the box so as not to lose the precious time he had already spent organizing the information.

"So you remembered what happened on Monday?" asked Ryan as he and Espo walked into the bullpen after Beckett had called them.

"No, but that doesn't matter because I didn't have all the pieces then," said Castle, shaking his head as he put several articles on the board. "I was so focused on what everyone said about Linderhoff and what he told me that I wasn't looking for the right thing.

"Since Linderhoff sold his business, the new owners have transported 15 exhibits, but it's not Linderhoff we should have been looking at – it's Michaele, the artist whose work they started carrying after the sale. More precisely, the exhibits where a Michaele statue was sold. The sale of each statue coincides with a mysterious death."

Castle put the invoices that Linderhoff had given them next to each article about a sudden death on the board.

He then pulled up a website for the artist on Beckett's computer. "Now, this page shows how they ship each statue. Michaele's assistants carefully put together each statue by hand and then pack each crate. The body of the statue is laid at the bottom of the crate, almost in a fetal position, and the headdress suspended carefully at the top.

"The statues are metal and look like skeletons, so when a crate is x-rayed, that's what shows up. TSA is already expecting to see something that looks human in the crate, so an x-ray of a skeleton doesn't raise any suspicions. And in these pictures that Demming took at the warehouse, you see only the headdress of a statue and the crate is obviously empty. The rest of the statue is missing."

"So if they put someone in the crate, they only put the headdress of a statue in it," said Beckett suddenly. "The person takes the place of the body."

"Precisely. Which means that this person," Castle said, pointing to a young woman in a jumpsuit near the crate, "was the shipee. That's our connection."

Beckett frowned slightly, puzzled by Castle's lack of his usual smugness when he solved a crime.

"Not to rain on your parade," said Ryan, "but Danberg ran facial recognition on all of the people in those pictures and nothing popped on her. And she's not in the missing person's database either."

"That's because she's not missing," said Castle, shaking his head and staring at the photograph a moment longer, ghosting his fingertips over the image. "She's dead."

"Uh, you sure, bro?" asked Espo. "And, if she's dead, how can she be here?"

"Because I've seen her before – at least a picture of her – when Alexis and I were in Paris, but I didn't make the connection until this morning," Castle replied. "And the irony is that I wouldn't have if I hadn't been in Demming's car yesterday and seen the rest of the pictures from the warehouse."

He picked up an article from the table and handed it to Beckett. "When I was going through the box, I realized that some of the articles from the library were incomplete and had Ellis pull those articles again. Someone must have gone through what I had found at the library and taken the parts that could link them to what's going on."

"This is the couple who died last year," said Beckett as she quickly scanned the article. The picture showed a somber couple and further down was a picture of their daughter. "And this must be their daughter."

Castle stared at the murder board for a moment before continuing, his face neutral. "I met the Brennan's at the American embassy in Paris after…." Even though some time had passed, he still had a hard time talking about what had happened without getting choked up. "They had come to visit their daughter Simone but she died the day before they got there.

"When we got to the embassy, Alexis and I waited in an office for clearance to leave. After she finally fell asleep on the couch, I went to get a cup of coffee and, on the way back, I stopped by the bathroom. Mr. Brennan was there, just sitting on the floor, holding that picture in his hands," he said, motioning to the picture in the article that Beckett held.

"He said it was a father's worst nightmare. I offered to do what I could to help them, but the funeral home had accidentally cremated her body and already gotten rid of the ashes because they thought she was the homeless person who had died a couple of days earlier. There was no official cause of death available because of the mix-up. They didn't even have a body to bring back home," Castle said quietly and then quickly wiped one of his eyes with the heel of his hand. He had come to peace with the fact that both of these incidents would haunt him forever.

Beckett gave his other hand a quick squeeze and then stepped up to the board and held the photograph in the article next to one of the pictures that Demming had taken. The hair might be different, but yes, it could be the same person and that was enough for her. "We need to stop the transfer," Beckett quickly decided as she pulled out her phone to call Sorenson and smiled reassuringly at Castle.

She frowned as the call to Sorenson's phone went to voice mail and then dialed another number. "This is Detective Beckett, NYPD," she said when it was answered. "I need to talk to Agent Will Sorenson immediately. We have more information on the Carmelita Deigo case." There was a pause and she replied a terse "thank you" before ending the call.

Beckett looked at the group. "Sorenson and Deigo are already at the airport waiting for the plane."

"Can we stop them?" asked Castle. "If she gets on that plane, she'll disappear and we'll never find her again."

"Will's phone is going to voice mail, so he must in incommunicado," said Beckett, shaking her head.

"Then do you have a helicopter?" asked Castle. "Otherwise, we're not going to make it there in time."

"Yeah, we will," said Beckett as she grabbed her keys off of the desk.

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	20. Chapter 20

Summary – Kate is at mandatory police training and Castle gets into trouble while researching a story. Can the 12th save him in time?

**Author's Notes**: Sorry it's been a while. Case of writer's block and a crazy life at work and home and little time to write. Rated T for language and violence and innuendo. Also I'm taking artistic liberties with how fast the investigation is going because, in the real world, it doesn't happen this fast. And some of the names of the towns are made up as are all of the people.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle: Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. Just writing for fun.

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**This Is Castle We're Talking About – Chapter 20**

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Before the four of them could make it to the elevator, the doors opened and Demming walked out.

"I heard about the deal Deigo made with the FBI and thought you could use this," he said, handing Beckett a warrant. "Reynolds and Masterson realized she had hung them out to dry and are cutting a deal with the DA to spill their guts about her human trafficking operation pending your approval. Judge Wilson was all too happy to sign the warrant for her arrest based on the information they've already given."

"What are the terms?" asked Beckett, taking the slip of paper.

Demming looked at Castle. "10 years max on any charges of kidnapping Richard Castle with attempted murder charges off the table, time off for good behavior."

"Meaning they could be out in 5," finished Beckett. She pressed her lips into a thin line as she turned to Castle, trying to read his inscrutable expression, and placed a hand on his arm. The police used deals all the time to get the bigger fish, but it was excruciating being on the other side, listening to how much or little your life was worth depending on the fish.

"Rick," she said softly, as Espo and Ryan moved off to give them some privacy.

"Do they know where the people are?" Castle asked Demming without looking at her.

"Yes, they do," he said.

"Then make the deal," Castle said curtly.

Demming nodded and pulled out his phone.

His anger quickly dissipating, Castle took a deep breath and swallowed before turning to Kate, an apology radiating out of his blue eyes. "Kate, I'm sorry," he said softly. "I didn't realize—" he started before she cut him off by placing a finger against his lips.

"Castle, it's okay – I wouldn't expect any less of you," she said, smiling at him. This was Castle they were talking about after all and he could be very chivalrous at times, even to his own detriment. "Now let's take that dirtbag down."

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Beckett drove, of course, with Castle riding shotgun, and Espo and Ryan following in their cruiser, lights flashing and sirens wailing.

A small jet stood powered-down and empty by the hanger that Sorenson's office had directed them to at JFK airport. Two black sedans were parked next to it, the occupants standing near the cars, talking on their cell phones.

Quickly stopping the car and unbuckling her seatbelt, Beckett looked at Castle. "Will you please stay here?" she asked. "And stay out of trouble this time?"

"I promise to try," Castle said sincerely with a nod of his head.

"Okay," she said, giving him a quick kiss before getting out of the car.

"Ryan, you're on Castle-watch," she said as Espo and Ryan walked up. "Make sure he stays put. Espo, you're with me."

"Yes, ma'am," said they said in unison.

"Detective Beckett and Detective Esposito, NYPD," said Kate as they flashed their badges at the people in suits near the two sedans. "Where are Agent Sorenson and Carmelita Deigo? We have a warrant for her arrest on ht charges."

"I'm Agent Ikerman," said a ball-headed man, coming up to her and taking the warrant. He scanned it quickly and then gave it back. "They're in the office," he said, pointing to the hanger. "Sorenson's not going to be pleased though – she cut a deal for immunity."

"Yeah, for dropping the charges of kidnapping and attempted murder of Mr. Richard Castle in exchange for information on her family," said Beckett as they walked to the hanger. "Her accomplices rolled on her when they realized she hung them out to dry so we can now link her to several cases of human trafficking. The Feds are on their way to her houses."

Ikerman opened the door to the office. "Hey, Sorenson, this detective wants to talk to you." He frowned as he looked at the overturned chair in the empty office and then at the open door that led into the hanger. "Shit, he must have gotten them," he swore as he pulled out his gun and moved to the side of the door and cautiously peered in.

"He who?" asked Beckett, pulling out her own gun and moving to Ikerman's flank. Espo took out his service gun and moved to the other side.

"Thomas the priest – we moved up the flight because we got confirmation this morning that he was in town," replied Ikerman. He pulled his phone out of its holder on his belt. "Abrams, we've been compromised. Thomas got them. I need you to quickly open the hanger door and move away."

They stood their position by the office door until the hanger door was open and the sunshine flooded the interior.

Ikerman swore again when it was apparent that no one was in the hanger. "Abrams, we need an all points. Consider Thomas armed and dangerous." He looked back at Beckett. "Sorry, but we're going to have to ask you to leave until we contain the situation. When we get her back, we can discuss your warrant."

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Castle and Ryan stopped talking as they watched Beckett and Espo stride back to them, Beckett's displeasure evident to all in the fury of her walk.

"Sorenson and Deigo are gone," she said when she reached them. "Apparently, the family sent a hit man after her and he was waiting in the hanger. The FBI has an all-points bulletin out so they can't get too far."

"Why didn't he just kill her?" asked Castle, confused. "It would have been a lot easier."

"The family probably wants to use her as an example," answered Ryan. "She said things got really bad after her uncle Max died 3 months ago, so she faked her death to get away and start a new life."

Castle frowned at them. "You were there when they questioned her and made the deal?"

"Uh, yeah," said Ryan, looking slightly ashamed.

"Listen, bro," Espo piped up. "We wanted them to throw the book at her."

"But apparently getting Max's son is more important than…" Ryan trailed off when he realized he was close to putting his foot in his mouth.

"You mean Thomas the priest?" Castle asked, a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"Yeah, she said he runs the business now. He must have gotten his nickname by hearing his victims' confessions before he kills them," commented Espo drily.

"Uh, no," said Castle, shaking his head in disbelief. "Didn't the Feds check their facts first? Uncle Max only has one son, Thomas Emanuel, and he really is a Catholic priest."

"This Father Thomas – you know him?" asked Beckett.

"Yeah," said Castle. "He's one of Pablo and Miguel's best friends. I'd confess to him each time I saw him—"

"But you're not Catholic," commented Beckett.

"No, but a little fire protection can't hurt," Castle explained. "Father Thomas is the real deal – a man of the cloth, totally devoted to God. But that would be cool," he said, getting distracted, his eyes narrowing in thought. "A man of the cloth by day seeking God's forgiveness and a vigilante at night seeking a God's justice."

"Castle – focus," hissed Beckett. "They said they moved up the flight because he's in town."

"Yeah, he's here for a retreat," said Castle. "We're going to get together before he flies back on Sunday for the annual fleecing of the Castle poker game."

"A priest who cheats at cards?" Espo asked incredulously.

"No, but he's got the best inside track ever and all the winnings go to his church as penance for – well, you know…" Castle said. He looked at Ryan and Espo and then at Beckett who rolled her eyes at him. "You're more than welcome to come – if you aren't on duty. The mayor should be there too," he added quietly.

"Well, this poker game isn't going to happen unless we find him before the Feds do. Does Thomas run the family business?" Beckett asked.

Castle shook his head. "I can't see him leaving the church to take over the family business – the legitimate family business," he quickly added. "But if he did, I could see how everything went south for Carmelita. Father Thomas has a very dim view of people who break the 10 commandments knowingly, and Carmelita has definitely broken all of them at least one time, if not several." He paused. "Well, at least she didn't lie about that."

"Yo, dude," Espo yelled at Ikerman who was talking on his phone near one of the cars. "You've been had."

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A search of the hanger quickly turned up an unresponsive Sorenson stuffed into a utility closet, a large lump purpling on the side of his head. They quickly pulled him out and placed him on the ground.

Ikerman felt his neck for a pulse and then shook his head grimly. "Nothing," he said.

"No, he's not dead," said Castle and Beckett in unison.

"She probably used ER4SER on him," said Castle, kneeling beside Sorenson.

"Look for a needle mark," finished Beckett.

As they examined him, Espo and Ryan filled Ikerman in on Castle's revelations.

"There," said Beckett, as she pushed up one of Sorenson's sleeves, motioning to the puncture wound in the crook of his left elbow. She pulled out her phone and quickly called Danberg. "We've got another one for you – Will Sorenson. We'll have the EMTs transport him to Mt. Sinai."

"If this Thomas isn't a hit man, who took Deigo?" asked Ikerman, taking off his jacket, wadding it up, and putting it under Sorenson's head.

"Reynolds and Masterson are still in lock-up," said Ryan, "so she must have another accomplice who was waiting."

"And she could be anywhere," said Beckett, looking at the airport terminal in the distance as the distant wail of a siren came closer.

"I've got this," said Ikerman, motioning towards Sorenson. "The balls in your court now, Detective."

The team moved back over to their cars, making their game plan.

Beckett quickly dialed Fallon and put him on speaker phone. "Agent Fallon, this is Detective Beckett. We're at JFK and Carmelita Deigo has escaped. We think she's trying to leave the country but she'll be traveling under an assumed name."

"And she won't be traveling alone," interjected Castle. "She knows we'll be looking for a single person, so it will be less suspicious if she's traveling with someone else." He thought for a moment and then suddenly said, "Dr. Dimont – Claire Dimont – see if that name is on any lists."

"Let me see what I can find at my end," said Fallon.

"Claire Dimont?" asked Beckett, arching an eyebrow and looking at Castle.

Castle watched as the EMTs carefully loaded Sorenson into the ambulance and then race off, only turning on their siren when they cleared the airfield.

"I saw her at the embassy. She's the ME in Paris who signed off on the autopsy on Simone so she could be involved," he replied. "Alexis didn't have any extra clothes and she'd worn what she had on for several days, so Julie took us to Dries Van Noten and Balenciaga so I could buy her some. Their names were on the registries together, so yeah, I'm certain they know each other."

Fallon was back on the line in a few moments. "Dr. Claire Dimont has 2 tickets on an Air France flight leaving in an hour. I'll put a departure hold on the plane. That should give you time to get there."

Espo looked at Castle. "Yo, bro, you've got all the pieces of the puzzle – no wonder they wanted you dead."

"Not funny," Beckett replied as she opened the door to her car.

"Little bit funny," Castle mouthed at him as he proceeded to get into the car.

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End file.
